


Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and the Philosopher's Stone

by m00n_river



Series: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Rewritten [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (i suppose honestly he deserves it), Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Canon Rewrite, Cute, Family Feels, Fluff, Friendship, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Era, Hogwarts First Year, Light Angst, Lucius Malfoy in Azkaban, M/M, Oop, POV Alternating, POV Draco Malfoy, POV Harry, POV Harry Potter, POV Remus Lupin, POV Sirius Black, POV Third Person, Powerful Draco Malfoy, Powerful Harry, Powerful Harry Potter, Pre-Slash, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin Raise Draco Malfoy, Slytherin, Slytherin Harry Potter, Slytherin Pride, Werewolf Remus Lupin, but still kinda stupid, harry is still with the dursleys sorry, our boys are super wise, sirius and remus raise draco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 20,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25506790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m00n_river/pseuds/m00n_river
Summary: Lucius Malfoy is in Azkaban for his association with You-Know-Who, Narcissa Malfoy is having a nervous breakdown and Draco Malfoy is left in the care of his cousin, Sirius Black, at the age of four. Harry Potter's whereabouts are unknown. Dumbledore works in mysterious, but questionable ways.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Rewritten [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847842
Comments: 73
Kudos: 660
Collections: Finished Titles ✔️





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Drarry fic so apologies if its not good. I want to rewrite the whole series because I think it would be fun. Please tell me if i've made a spelling oopsie because I genuinely can't be bothered to check again. Enjoy! I don't know how frequently I'll be updating but I'll do my best.
> 
> Edit:  
> Also! For any tumblr users i actually have one where i am now trying to update everyone on it (i don’t really know how people do this lol) but if you want to check it out my username is 
> 
> m00n-riverr
> 
> thank for looking at this fic 💕

On the 31st October 1981, the unimaginable happened. The Wizarding World shifted in a catastrophic way whilst every member of it celebrated the supposed defeat of ‘You-Know-Who’. Little did they know that a beast was lurking in the shadows. Voldemort would rise again. And this time, he wasn’t taking prisoners.

Lucius Malfoy was arrested only three years after You-Know-Who’s defeat, leaving his wife distraught with a baby to take care of. Narcissa was inconsolable. The mere sound of her baby’s crying would send her into fits of pain that would take her to the liquor cabinet every time. And whilst the woman and her child were perishing, the Ministry turned its back on the Malfoy clan, claiming their ‘Death Eater Ties’ to be beyond forgiveness. But, Dumbledore had another plan. After months in court, fighting with the Wizengamot, he finally got Sirius Black released from Azkaban, citing that his wand showed no recollected of casting such a spell and that it clearly hadn’t come from him, and returned the man to his husband, a Mr Remus Lupin. 

The pair had eloped five days before the tragic deaths of Lily and James Potter, knowing in their hearts that it may be their final opportunity. But during the few months they had to get back on their feet, Dumbledore was back at the Ministry, fighting for Draco Malfoy to be removed from his mother’s custody. Once the papers were signed, Narcissa was admitted to St. Mungos and young Draco was left mother and fatherless. Still, Dumbledore wasn’t done, for he knew a couple who could raise the child with the right intent. With Malfoy blood in him, the child was bound to be a powerful wizard, and they couldn’t risk him getting into the wrong hands. And so, on the evening of the 3rd August 1984, the Lupin-Blacks found a typically unperturbed Dumbledore, with a sleeping child in his arms, and a stern looking Minerva McGonagall on their doorstep. 

“Dumbledore! Minnie! What a surprise, come in, come in!” Sirius ushered the pair inside and led them to the kitchen where Remus offered them tea and took the baby off of Dumbledore’s hands. 

“Thank you, Mr Lupin. I am afraid I am here to ask a favour.” The two young men shared a look. It was very much like Dumbledore to randomly ask you to do something ridiculous, and from the looks of the boy sleeping contentedly in Remus’s arms, this favour wasn’t going to be as trivial as marking some Hogwarts exam papers. 

“What do you need, Dumby?” Dumbledore took a deep breath before he was interrupted by Minerva, clearly irritated at her colleague’s lack of tact. 

“This boy is the son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.” A sharp intake of breath came from Remus, but Sirius just looked grave. 

“...And you need us to take care of him. Being that I am technically his cousin.” 

“We would be honored if you would. The child’s bank account was the only one of his assets that haven’t been frozen by the Ministry and you will get frequent payments in order to fulfill the child’s expenses…” She was speaking in clipped tones, clearly trying to withhold tears. What horrors this child must have suffered. “We know that he has a lot of archaic magic in him, but he has also shown some signs of unusual magic that could have grave consequences if honed and used for evil, so we need you two, good men, to raise him and, hopefully, show him the light.” Remus and Sirius had matching expressions of shock, and Remus held the child tighter. Eventually, the pair shared a look and Sirius spoke up. 

“May we please have a discussion in private, Minnie.” 

“Of course, take as much time as you need.” Dumbledore and Minevra left the kitchen, taking Draco, and settled themselves in the lounge, sharing a look of hope. With the tuition of two of the most powerful wizards in the generation, Draco would be sure to grow up to be a worthy opponent of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Both Professors knew that they hadn’t seen that last of the Dark Lord. And that it was only a matter of time. 


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uncle Vernon is a homophobe but I think we all sort of knew that. Please comment if you see any spelling mistakes!!

“Draco! We’re going to be late for the train!”

“Coming, Moony!” called Draco as he hurled himself down the stairs. 

“I swear to Merlin, if we’re late!” 

“I know, I know, you’ll cut off all my beautiful hair!” Remus smiled as his son barked out a laugh when his wonderful husband lifted the young boy off the floor and buried his face in his neck, breathing in the scent. 

“Come on, Pads, you can say goodbye at the station.” 

“I know but my little star won’t want to be embarrassed by his dad!” Sirius replied, finally placing Draco back on the floor. 

“Oh lay off, Moons, if we miss the train we can take the motorcycle.” 

“No way are you going anywhere near that death trap.” Remus felt a warm glow spreading from his chest to every area of his body, what a wonderful family he had. If seven years ago, you would have told him that he would someday be reunited with his husband, with a beautiful child about to go to Hogwarts, he would have checked them for a _Confundus_. But without these two men, he wouldn’t feel as though he would have anything to live for. “Alright, children, lets go. Are you alright to apparate, Draco?” 

“Yeah, I’ll side along with you and Pads can take the bags?” 

“Why am I getting stuck with the bags?” Sirius pouted. 

“Because I’m only an ickle eleven year old boy.” 

“And what about Moony?” 

“Oh, shush, we both know that if you’re in charge of apparating Draco, you’ll end up taking him to a Muggle Car Show.” 

“He’s not wrong, Pads.” 

“Fine, you go with Moons.” The trio walked to the nearest apparition point in their neighbourhood and departed, instantly finding themselves outside King’s Cross station, in an area that had been warded enough to allow them to slip into the crowd until they found the platforms nine and ten, and between them, stood a young boy with unruly black hair, broken glasses, and a scar running down the centre of his forehead, in the shape of a lightning bolt. 

“Oh Merlin. Moony look!” Remus watched as his husband turned a sickly yellow before following his line of vision to take in the boy. He was a carbon copy of James, couldn’t be mistaken, it was unnerving. And that scar proved what he already knew to be true. 

“Harry?” 

“Yes?” The boy turned around and eyed the trio warily, stilling slightly on Draco and blushing. “Who are you?” 

“I’m sorry, son, we were just friends with your parents, James and Lily?” Remus offered, Sirius still seemed to be recovering from the shock of seeing the ghost of his best friend. 

“You knew them?” 

“Yes, we were all very good friends. My name is Remus, this is my husband Sirius, and this is Draco, our son.” Draco held out his hand sheepishly and James’s ghost shook it with unnecessary force before withdrawing it abruptly. Remus recognized a look in his son’s eyes that appeared whenever he was enraptured by something, it almost made him smirk. “Would you like some help getting onto the platform?” 

“Yes, please. I don’t quite understand.” 

“Well, it sounds quite scary, but all you need to do is walk straight at the bit of the wall. Actually, it’s best to do it at a bit of a run. Sirius, why don’t you demonstrate?” Sirius took a moment to pull himself together, and ran his hands through Draco’s hair a few times while taking deep, calming breaths to do it. 

“‘Course, Harry. Just watch carefully!” With that, he raced at the wall with his luggage as Harry glared in wonder. 

“Wow.” 

“Now, why don’t you try, Draco? Meet Pads on the other side.” said Remus, trying to keep his voice calm. 

“Alright.” Draco gave Harry a quick smile and ran through the wall, grinning with poorly contained excitement. 

“Now, Harry, why don’t you come through with me, we’ll do it together.” He held out his hand and calmed when the boy took it. 

“Okay.” Remus counted down, the way he used to do when he was getting Draco to eat his vegetables as a baby. On one, they barrelled into the wall, laughing when they made it to the other side. Remus could never forget how magnificent the Hogwarts Express was, and felt, for some reason, hopeful, knowing that it was always here and the start and end of every term, waiting to take children back and forth from the greatest place on Earth. Harry seemed overtaken with a similar emotion as he traced the glossy contours of the train. “It’s amazing isn’t it?” 

“Everything in this world is.” 

“Yeah. Most of it, anyway.” Remus didn’t correct Harry, confirming that the scar on his forehead was proof that not everything in the Wizarding World was amazing. “If you don’t mind my asking, Harry, where have you grown up?” Harry shuffled nervously, clearly uncomfortable talking about it. 

“With my mother’s sister and her family.” He didn’t say any more, Remus had obviously hit a nerve. 

“I’m sorry for asking, it’s just that, Sirius over there, he’s your godfather, and we haven’t heard anything about you in years. Only that you were alive.” 

“I didn’t even know I was a wizard until a few weeks ago.” _Oh._ Remus thought. _That’s interesting._ “Ser-i-ous is really my godfather?” Remus chuckled at Harry’s slight mispronunciation of his husband's name. 

“Ha. Yes, your father and he were best friends.” Harry considered this for a moment, watching Pads with curious eyes. 

“Uncle Vernon says that gays shouldn’t have children.” A line had formed between the boy’s eyebrows as they furrowed, clearly uncomfortable with his Uncle’s bigotry. Remus wasn’t annoyed in the slightest. Being the teenaged secret of Sirius Black made him well accustomed to homophobic adults indoctrinating children. 

“Uncle Vernon sounds like a prick.” Harry giggled, then snorted, which turned into a fit of sheepish laughter, clearly not accustomed to hearing people badmouth his uncle, or such language. 

“He is, actually.” Remus joined in and the pair were almost doubled over laughing when Draco and Sirius approached them. 

“Now who’s the child, Moony?” Sirius had mostly recovered from his previous shock, and was now holding Draco as though he would never let go while his song struggled in his iron grasp. 

“Gerroff…” When he finally broke free, Draco brushed his clothes off and walked over to Harry. 

“Are you going into first year like me?” Harry scratched the back of his neck and he was glowing crimson at being addressed by Draco. Sirius smirked at him and winked. Clearly his son had the Black family genes that made them irresistible. 

“Yeah, I think so.” 

“Great! Do you want to sit together in the train?” 

“Sure!” 

“Pads, can you help Harry get his trunk on the train.” Draco pleaded. 

Sirius sighed dramatically. “If I must!” he proclaimed, but Harry held onto his suitcase with a wary look. “It’s okay, mate, I won’t steal it.” 

“My aunty says that I shouldn’t let other people do things for me” Sirius glanced up at Remus, and down once more to Harry. 

“Alright, how about you, me and Draco all lift this onto the train? Then it can be a joint effort. How about that?” The raven haired boy seemed to consider this for a moment, before allowing Draco and Sirius to help him. It took a few minutes, but eventually, after giving Draco a giant hug, whispering in his ear to write as often as he could, and giving Harry a pat on the back and wishing him luck, Remus could see his son sitting comfortably in a compartment opposite the scrawny boy and smiled. He felt warm arms wrap around his torso and breathed in the familiar smell of his husband. Waving his son off, both men felt a wave of emotion crash around them. 

“Today has been quite a day.” It truly had. 

“We need to call Dumbledore.” 


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am actually already on Chapter 10 so I might update sort of sporadically. I have some sub-plot ideas and some other bits a pieces. Please comment! I love reading them!

Harry nervously glanced at the pale faced boy in front of him. He was very pretty, he noted. Which was something he had never thought about another person before. His eyes were molten gray and his hair was white gold. When their eyes met, Harry felt his face heat up again. He shouldn’t have been staring.

“So what house do you want to be in?” The boy asked - ‘Draco’. Harry recalled his name being strange. 

“I don’t really know anything about houses.” Draco’s eyebrows knitted. 

“Do you not know anything about Hogwarts?” 

“I don’t know anything about wizards.” Harry corrected. Truly, he had never felt more out of his depth. He expected to be made fun of for being so in the dark but instead saw Draco shrug and grin and the chance to utilize his knowledge. 

“Well, my dads say that there are four houses. Hufflepuff is for kind and honest people, Ravenclaw is for smart people, Gryffindor is for brave people, and Slytherin is for ambitious and cunning people.” Draco’s grin faltered a little. “Pads says that people in Slytherin are evil but Moony says that no house is fundamentally bad. I actually kind of want to be in Slytherin, but I haven’t told them.” 

“Do you think they’d be angry?” 

Draco paused and mulled this question over. “Not angry. They were both in Gryffindor and Gryffindors are meant to be the good guys. I just don’t think I’m brave enough. Maybe I’ll be in Ravenclaw, Moony says I’m very smart!” The boy brightened at this. 

“I just hope I get put in a house. I don’t really feel like I fit in any of those.” 

“You’ll find your place. I hope we’re in the same house, that means we can room together!” Well that was a lovely thought. Perhaps Harry should just ask to go wherever Draco goes. “Can I ask you something?” Draco was suddenly timid. 

“Are you really Harry Potter?” 

“Oh, well, yes.” he mumbled. 

Draco watched him with calculating eyes. 

“My dads said that Dumbledore wouldn’t tell anyone where you were. Apparently it was some big secret. They won’t tell me anything. All I know about you was that you survived the killing curse when you were a baby, but that’s just common knowledge around here.” Harry squirmed at the onslaught of knowledge and didn’t quite know how to reply. His time at the Dursley's was awful and he honestly wasn’t excited to meet this ‘Dumbledore’ that everyone kept mentioning. Even if Hagrid had worshipped him, he can’t be that wonderful if he kept him from his godfather and the life they had. Harry couldn’t quite stop himself from being jealous of Draco. He seemed to have lived the ideal life up until this point. Thankfully, he didn’t have to reply because an elderly woman stopped by their compartment with a trolley, loaded with colourful sweets. “Ooh! Pads gave me money for this! Would you like anything?” 

“You don’t have to buy me anything! I think I’ve got enough!” Harry grinned at the prospect of Wizard Sweets and scanned the assortment with Draco who carried a handful of chocolate frogs and one pumpkin pasty, Harry chose one of each of the sweets on display and they both sat down and began devouring their selections. At Harry’s questioning, Draco explained every sweet Harry had picked up. 

“And those are Chocolate Frogs. I love these. But be careful, they have a tendency to jump around!” Harry cracked open the packaging and out flew a brown blob that landed on the window and flew out before Harry had a chance to catch it. “Oh, tough luck. Here, you can have one of mine.” Draco passed Harry one of his stack “But if you get Devin Whitehorn can you give it to me ‘cos I need that one.” 

“What?” “Oh! Inside Chocolate Frogs you get these collectable cards!” Harry looked down and saw a withered old man with beetle black eyes and a dark beard. Underneath his picture was the name, 

“Salazar Slytherin.” 

Draco’s eyes lit up. “Ooh! That one’s pretty rare! You can start collecting now.” 

They chattered amiably about sweets for hours, unaware of the time that was passing. They each tried a Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Bean, with Draco getting tar and Harry getting ‘old shoe’. 

They were interrupted though at two points, first by a dough-faced boy complaining about a lost toad, and a bushy-haired girl inquiring after, presumably, the same toad. But aside from that, the conversation flowed naturally. It was as though the boys had known each other all their lives. Harry was reluctant to leave when Draco suggested they get into their robes. After changing, it wasn’t long before they pulled up at Hogsmeade station and joined the rest of the students on the platform. 

“Firs’ years, firs’ years! Over ‘ere!” Harry spotted a large, familiar face looming above the children and ran to it, pulling Draco along. 

“Hello Hagrid!” 

“‘Ello Harry, and ‘oos yer friend there?” Hagrid eyed Draco’s bright hair suspiciously and Draco looked nervous, seemingly confused at what the large man was staring at. 

“Oh this is Draco…” he trailed off, realising that Draco hadn’t given a surname. 

“Malfoy.” Draco finished, and Hagrid’s face paled. He turned his eyes back to Harry and asked, in a low voice, if he could have a word in private. Harry looked confusedly between his friends but followed Hagrid a little further away from Draco. 

“You shouldn’t be ‘anging out wit that boy ‘Arry. Do you ‘ear me?” Hagrid looked sickly and ill. There was something he wasn’t telling him. 

“What? Hagrid, he’s an eleven year old boy!” 

“I know, I know, I just think tha’ it would be safer fer you if you stayed away, do you understand?” 

“Thanks for the advice Hagrid but I’ll be fine.” Hagrid looked resigned and muttered something along the lines of ‘Dumbledore better…’ But Harry didn’t stick around to find out what ‘Dumbledore’ had better do, frankly he was tired of hearing the man's name, and joined Draco back on the platform. Draco gave him a questioning look that he responded to with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. He idly wondered what everyone was worried about, Remus and Sirius seemed to be lovely people, and Draco had been nothing but kind to him. 

But his thoughts were tossed aside when he and Draco found themselves in a boat, rowing towards the awe inspiring sight of the castle. Harry felt more at home than he had in years. 


	4. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the love! I'm actually really overwhelmed, this is my first longer fic and my first Drarry so I'm really happy that everyone is liking it 💖

“DUMBY!” Remus could no longer see his husband’s head as it was crammed so far into the fireplace, he wondered if it would be difficult to get it out. “You had better come here right now or I swear to Merlin’s saggy balls that I will come through this Floo and trash your office!”

“He’s probably at the welcome feast, you know how those things drag on.” he sighed wearily. He was no stranger to Sirius’s fits of rage, but honestly he just wanted to go to bed and Floo Dumbledore in the morning. Surely there was some reasonable explanation for this. 

“At 11:30? No, that bastard is hiding from us!” Remus sighed again and yanked Sirius out of the fire. 

“Can we just try again in the morning, please?” The edges of Sirius’s eyes were raw and red, clearly he needed sleep before confronting Dumbledore. 

“It’s just… he looked so scrawny…” His sentences were thick with emotion and Remus could see how hard he was trying not to cry. “I thought that Dumbledore would have sent him to live with some family member we didn’t know about! And I thought that family wouldn’t be Petunia fucking Dursley!” 

“I know, Harry didn’t deserve that, but we don’t know how bad it really was! Maybe Harry’s just a skinny kid, but you know, if it really was malnourishment, it’s okay now! He can live with us during the holidays!” Sirius visibly relaxed at that, but collapsed his head on Remus’s shoulder and exhaled heavily. It was then that an old, bearded wizard in silvery robes, calmly stepped out of their fireplace. 

“Mr and Mr Lupin-Black, I hear you have been looking for me.” Sirius’s head rose and he heaved with barely repressed rage. He turned around to face Dumbledore with a look of thunder that would have turned anyone to stone. 

“Albus.” he began, voice shaking and low. In any other situation, Remus would have scolded his husband for use of a former professor’s first name, but anyone with eyes could see that Harry hadn’t eaten in a while. At least not properly. And he would be damned if he didn’t allow Sirius to unleash the full force of his wrath on the one person who insisted on him being placed there. “Please, with as much clarity as you can muster in that tired, old brain of yours, can you tell us where Harry Potter has been since that night in Godric’s Hollow?” 

Dumbledore paused and sat down on their sofa, gesturing for the two men to do the same. They did, more out of habit of doing what their headmaster said than anything else. But, eventually, the wrinkled man spoke in a hushed, calm voice. 

“On the evening of the 31st October 1981, Harry Potter managed to survive the killing curse at the hands of Voldemort. On that night, he was also left orphaned, but still had two people of whom he could still call family, by law. One of them,” he said, with a pointed look at Sirius. “Was about to be put in Azkaban for a crime he did not commit. The other was his aunt, a Mrs Petunia Dursley.” 

“We know all this, Dumbledore, get on with it.” The man was not put out in the slightest by Sirius’s interruption, instead seemed to have expected it. 

“Four years later, you, Sirius, had been released from Azkaban and young Mr Malfoy found himself in a similar position to the one Harry had found himself in. Without parents. Now, as you know, the House of Black has always been quite a toxic environment for a child to grow up in, and the Malfoys are no different. And with Draco’s, shall we say, unusual, powers, I felt it best that he grew up in a home that wouldn’t exploit them, hence my putting him in your care. Now, I had thought that, perhaps, I should release Harry from the Dursley’s care and bring him here to live with you, his other legal guardian, but, when I reached Privet Drive, I noticed him sitting, alone in the back garden, showing off some skills that, perhaps would be at odds with Draco’s.” A chill ran down Remus’s spine. 

“You don’t mean…” Dumbledore nodded gravely. 

“I felt it best that they did not grow up in close quarters. However, a small event of little importance, other than to the people that know about this, yourselves, Minerva, Severus and myself, may have changed things.” 

“What happened?” The men were on the edge of their seats, desperate to know what could have possibly happened. 

“Both your son, and Harry, have been sorted into Slytherin House.” Sirius gasped but Remus felt only confused. Of course, it made little difference to him that it was Slytherin House in particular, although it would to his husband, what really bothered him was that Draco and Harry would be living in the same room for the next seven years. He couldn’t begin to comprehend the effects this would have. “You can clearly see the difficulty. But, I think this may be a good thing. We can observe. And they will be under my watchful eye, so I promise, I will report anything that happens.” 

The three wizards sat in contemplative silence. The magnitude of what they had been running from for years was finally catching up with them, and the Wizarding World was once again in danger, even though most of them were blissfully unaware of it. 


	5. Chapter Four

The Slytherin Common room was cooler than Draco had expected. There were skulls carved into the walls and the windows peered into a murky green lake. Upon entrance, he and Harry raced to the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of the giant squid, before being told by a Slytherin Prefect that the slippery thing hardly ever visited. 

Now, Draco was sprawled, face first on the covers of his Slytherin bed, listening to Harry get ready for bed. He probably should too, but he was too knackered. The room was empty apart from himself, Harry, and a boy by the name of Blaise Zabini who was passed out in the bed farthest from them. Harry had chosen the bed nearest the wall and Draco had chosen the one right next to him, desperate for any resemblance of a friend he could get. Harry had been good to him so far. He wasn’t big headed or arrogant, just shy. He seemed to be just as desperate for a friend as Draco was, which helped. Especially seeing as he was certain that he would lose Harry as a friend earlier that day in the Entrance Hall.

Draco recalled a boy with carrot hair and freckles approaching them. 

“Hello, Harry,” he had said. “I’m Ron Weasley.” The Weasley boy kept stealing glances at Draco, as though he was ready for him to pounce at any moment. Harry had shaken hands with him, a shy smile toying at his lips, clearly uncomfortable with people knowing his name without him offering it. 

“Hello! This is my friend Draco.” Draco was shoved forward. Neither he nor Ron offered a hand. Draco was still wary of him, the judgy glances he had received before were nothing to the pure horror that painted Ron’s features now. He was used to this expression coming from people he didn’t know, Pads and Moony had explained it by saying that they were just scared of Pads for once being locked up in Azkaban, or Moony because of his scars. But that didn’t explain it now. Clearly, Draco was scaring the boy. 

“Hello!” Ron didn’t reply, just backed away, rejoining the crowd of onlookers who had just now realised that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were standing in their midst. Suddenly, half of the people there were eyeing Draco with fear, and Harry with awe, but some of them had blank expressions, unaware of the history. Draco would confess, he was a little too. 

Suddenly, Draco could feel the weight of another person sitting on the edge of his bed and looked up to find Harry, watching him and working his lip worriedly. Upon first seeing the boy, Draco was immersed. He had a young, boyish charm about him that was endearing and making him laugh or smile was a feeling that could only be compared to the way he felt when he first flew on a broom or sat in the sidecar of Pads’ motorcycle. But at the present he now he looked stressed and upset. 

“Are you okay?” Draco sat up and faced him, sensing an important conversation was to be had. 

“When I got sorted, did you notice how nobody cheered and clapped for me, like they did the other kids, except you?” Draco had noticed. 

When Draco was sorted, there wasn’t silence, but their faces screamed expectancy, that they knew it was coming. He didn’t completely understand why but chalked it down to the fact that he just looked the part. With Harry, however, you could hear a pin drop. Draco was reluctant to even start clapping since it seemed like no one else was doing it but, catching sight of Harry’s face made him sure that he should support him, so he did, but nobody joined in. Dumbledore’s usually blank mask had fallen into one of polite confusion and worry, and the expression of everyone else varied from outraged to downright bewildered. 

However, one Professor’s reaction took Draco by surprise. The newest Defence teacher, Quirrel, the stuttery one, looked distressed, as though somebody was telling him something that made him uncomfortable. Harry started holding his forehead and gasping at that point, before abruptly stopping. He had said that it was just a sudden headache. 

“Yeah, I did. Look, don’t let it get to you, nobody likes a Slytherin. I bet they just didn’t expect you, of all people, to be one. You know, your parents were Gryffindors.” 

“Draco, you said earlier that Gryffindor is the house of the good guys. I want to be a good guy! What if… I don’t know. What if I’m not a good guy?” Draco paused and tried to think of an answer. The Boy Who Lived wanting to be a good guy was, at the very least, comforting. 

“Harry, do you know who my parents are?” 

Harry looked confused. “Sirius and Remus.” he said, as though it was obvious. 

“My biological parents. They are Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Lucius, my father, is currently in Azkaban, wizard prison, because he had strong ties to Voldemort. And my mother was almost chucked in with him, but wasn’t, and then had a nervous breakdown. When I was four, I was given to Sirius and Remus. Everyone expects me to grow up just like them. And, in another universe maybe, without Pads and Moony taking care of me, I might have. Don’t let what other people think define you. If you want to be a good guy, work hard on making your own decisions. That’s all you can do.” Harry seemed to consider his words for a long time before reaching out and loosely holding Draco’s hand, and in a low voice he said. 

“Do you know that the Sorting Hat gave me a choice this evening? He asked if I wanted to go in Slytherin or Gryffindor. I chose Slytherin. I chose you.” 

“Do you regret it?” 

“No. I am not my parents, any more than you are yours. Thank you for showing me that.” 

The boys had a connection in that moment that neither of them would ever fully understand. But, little did they know, they were more like their parents than they wished. 


	6. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I'm not sure about this chapter, please give feedback. (Speaking of, thank you for all the love this has gotten!!)

The next morning, while sitting in the Great Hall, thousands of owls swooped down from the ceiling, among them Draco’s own owl, the black-feathered Perseus, carrying his subscription from the Daily Prophet. As he landed, he managed just to avoid knocking over any glasses, but landed his foot in the strawberry jam. Harry giggled.

“Silly Perseus. What did he bring you?” Harry was good with names, Draco concluded, he had a wonderful memory and tried really hard to pronounce each one right. Draco had told him the name of his owl the night before when Harry had mentioned his trip to Diagon Alley with Hagrid, and Draco had explained that Perseus was a constellation, just like his own name was. 

“Just the Daily Prophet, that’s the main wizard newspaper.” Draco opened up the paper only to find his own name glaring back at him at the headline underneath the article about a break-in at Gringotts. Ignoring the shocking news, Draco circled in on his own name and read the headline, blood going cold. 

**DRACO MALFOY, SUPPOSED LYCANTHROPE AND DEATH EATER SON, BEST FRIENDS WITH THE BOY WHO LIVED?**

Draco felt numb. Lycanthrope? What did that even mean? He continued reading the article, urgent for some explanation. 

_As students from across the country filed back into the Hogwarts Express, ready to continue their magical education, yesterday, a suspicious friendship was formed between our very own saviour and the son of convicted Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, who has been living with former resident of Azkaban, Sirius Black and, as respectable sources tell us, Werewolf, Remus Lupin, was seen sitting in a compartment on the train with none other than Harry James Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. Witnesses have stated… (continues on page 3)_

Draco hurriedly flipped to page three to finish the article but, before he could, another owl landed in front of him, their family owl, Eddie. He held in his talon a rolled up piece of parchment. Draco untied it, almost ignoring Harry’s inquiries over his wellbeing. Unable to find words, he shoved the newspaper over to him, hoping he understood. The parchment, however, read; 

_Draco, honey, I am so, so sorry. I understand this is a huge shock for you. You will be excused from lessons today, Pads will make sure of it. We’re coming to the school to talk to you and Dumbledore, don’t worry, we’ll get this all sorted out._

_Moony xxx_

Draco felt numb. What was a _lycanthrope_? Is this why people were afraid of him? And why were people calling Moony a werewolf? He vaguely felt Harry’s hand on his shoulder, and his voice soothing in his ear, before Snape’s firm grip hoisted him up from his seat and forced him out of the room. 

“You’re coming with me, Mr Malfoy, Dumbledore would like a word.” 

“Sir, what’s a lycanthrope?” 

“You’ll find out soon enough.” When they reached the statue of a gryffin, Snape bellowed out. “Fudge Flies’ and the statue began to turn, revealing a set of winding stairs that the two began to ascend. Snape’s hand was no longer gripping the back of Draco’s neck but he almost felt like he missed its presence. Without it, he was floating with no anchor. Thankfully, they made it to the door. Without even knocking, Dumbledore’s voice could be heard from inside. 

“Come in!” The old wizard was sitting behind his desk with his regular black mask set in place, but the usual twinkle was dimmed. “Draco! Sit down, boy, while we wait for your fathers. Jelly Slug?” Draco watched as the gummy slugs writhed and wriggled over one another. He always thought that they never looked to appetizing, so he declined with as polite a smile as he could muster. Draco knew that the only way to get his answer was to ask Dumbledore now, he couldn’t trust that his dads wouldn’t try to sugar coat it. 

“Sir, what is a lycanthrope?” 

“DON’T answer that, Dumby, or it’ll be the last thing you ever do!” 

“Sirius…” Draco could hear his father’s bickering coming from the fireplace, edging close, and leaped into their warm embrace. 

“Why was my name in the newspaper?” He wailed, not bothering to control his emotions any longer. 

“Take a seat, honey, I’ll explain everything.” Moons sounded tired, like he had just stayed up half the night before, but still comforting. 

“Do you mean that, Dad? Because you sometimes sugar coat things!” 

“Yes, I’ll tell you everything.” Pads had stepped away by now, sensing that it wasn’t his moment, and conjured a few extra seats to go beside the one that Draco had been occupying before. When everyone was seated, Moony took a deep breath and looked Draco right in the eye. “Draco, I am aware that we really should have told you this before but I was honestly scared and I didn't think that anybody would know. I'm sorry you had to find out like this.” 

“It’s okay, dad, everyone makes mistakes. I just really want an explanation.” 

Remus chuckled, wetly. 

“Thanks, son. I’ll get on with explaining shall I?” Draco nodded and Moony steeled himself before forging on. “There has been a lot of rumour and speculation surrounding your adoption into our family, especially seeing as your father and I don’t seem like respectable candidates. I am sure you saw in the article that I am referred to as a ‘Werewolf’?” Draco nodded again, listening raptly. “Well, I wanted to tell you this when you were a little older but, I suppose now is as good a time as any, that is true.” The young boy gasped. A werewolf? But weren’t they meant to be savages? They killed people. Draco knew, he had read it once in an article. But then something clicked - Moony always went away for the weekend, once a month. Pads had always told Draco that it was for work, but maybe that wasn’t it? “Now, I am sure, like the smart kid you are, you’re putting two and two together. I’ll tell you everything. Today. Seeing as you are excused from lessons.” 

He tilted his head up to look at Dumbledore, checking if that was true, who then gave a look to Snape, who nodded and left the room in a dramatic flurry of robes. Returning to the conversation, Moony continued. “A lycanthropist is a person who can shapeshift into a werewolf, be it voluntarily or involuntarily. I don't know how anybody found out. We both wanted to wait and tell you when you were a little older, but somebody must have told the papers. However, it seems that the general opinion is, that you were put into our custody because we would know how to deal with you. But, darling, you aren’t a werewolf! That is all speculation! I don’t know how it managed to make its way onto the front page, especially when there are more important things happening right now, but Dumbledore is issuing a public statement later today. Hopefully, that will be enough.” 

Draco felt calmer now. He didn’t mind people whispering about him, but people whispering about his parents? Sure, he had been dealing with it his whole life, but for it to be used against them like that, so cruelly. And as for the most shocking part, Draco didn’t quite know how he felt about Moony being a werewolf, the nickname made more sense now. He still loved him, but he wasn’t sure if he still trusted him, Draco internally slapped himself for thinking such an awful thought. Of course he trusted him, he hadn’t hurt him yet! Still, he wanted to have all the information before making a proper decision. And so, Draco made himself more comfortable in his chair and watched his dads with a firm gaze. 

“Tell me everything about werewolves.” 


	7. Chapter Six

“How can you be so nonchalant about this? Somebody went to the papers!”

“I know” 

“Somebody either broke our trust or spied on us and we were forced to tell our child before you were ready!” 

“ _I know_ ” 

“And now you have to get _registered_ , Moony!” 

“SIRIUS WILL YOU JUST SIT DOWN?” 

The kitchen was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Sirius took the seat next to Remus, not daring to look at his face. The other man hardly ever raised his voice. 

“I got a letter.” Remus’s voice was scratchy and hollow, devoid of emotion. 

“From who?” 

“Work. They’ve decided to let me go.” 

“No.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “Those bastards. You don’t want to work for them anyway, Moons.” 

“Pads, you realise that nobody will want to hire me now?” Oh. Right. Both men sat in contemplative silence as the minutes dragged by. “What are we going to do?” 

“I’ll just get a job.” 

“Doing what?” 

“I don’t know. Rockstar, maybe?” That managed to get a low chuckle out of Remus. “Hey. We’ll figure it out. One step at a time, okay?” 

“One step at a time.” 

*** 

Harry’s first week at Hogwarts was, from an outsider's perspective, pretty eventful, what with flying lessons, and figuring out the endlessly confusing staircases and his best friend being the subject of ruthless speculation, not to mention the rumours that followed _him_. The general idea was, now that he was in Slytherin and best friends with Draco Malfoy, he was sure to become a Dark Wizard in the future, powerful enough to outdo Voldemort. Because of this, Harry and Draco were mostly left to themselves, except for a dedicated group of fellow Slytherin First Years who had made it their mission to befriend them. Draco had, at first, been irritated at the attention, knowing that it came from a place of lies, but after a scary encounter with some older Gryffindors, decided that it would be better to travel in a pack. Safety in numbers and whatever. Harry didn’t mind a bit. Fake friends were better than no friends at all, he concluded. And besides, he had a real friend: Draco. 

The pair had been inseparable since the first night, and Draco needed somebody to vent to after finding out that his father was a werewolf. Harry needed a little explaining as to what exactly that meant, but for the most part could understand that it was a grave thought indeed. 

Aside from these new additions of Harry Potter’s life, he still made time to speculate over suspicious information that found itself on his path. When Draco had first passed him the copy of the Daily Prophet that fateful morning, he instead focused his attention to the headline that day about a break-in at Gringotts, in the same that he had seen Hagrid get a package from. It seemed suspicious to him, and his ever unquenchable curiosity had him devoured. He expressed his concerns to Draco who had merely said, 

“It’s probably just something important of Dumbledore’s. One of those crazy things he keeps in his office. Don’t go looking for trouble, Harry, you won’t find anything good.” But Harry was adamant, whatever was in that package was important and he needed to know what it was. Regardless, Harry didn’t want to make Draco upset, seeing as he was the only genuine friend he had, so he dropped the issue. That is until a few weeks into term, when Draco insisted they go back to the library to search for more information on werewolves. His reasoning was that all of the good books were kept in the restricted section, which they could only go into at night, when no one would find them. But Harry was unsure. The older students had told them horror stories of being found by Filch and his gammy cat Mrs Norris, and he didn’t want to risk detention, not so early in his Wizarding career. Still, Draco was nervous, scared for his father’s safety, he used research to stay grounded, and Harry could understand coping mechanisms better than most. So, the two boys snuck out of the Slytherin common room, made their way up plights of stairs, and finally got to the library. But just as they were about to cross over the threshold, an uneven set of footsteps could be heard from around the corner. 

“Oh, naughty, naughty children out of bed.” Sneered a grim voice. 

“It’s Filch! Run!” Harry scream-whispered at Draco who looked longingly at the door of the library as he dragged him away. The boys ran until their lungs hurt and finally stopped at a big, wooden door. Harry tried to open it but it wouldn’t budge. 

“Move.” Draco whispered and pointed his wand at the lock. “ _Alohomora._ ” The door clicked open and the pair scrambled in, seconds before Filch rounded the corner. Harry’s breathing was heavy, but Draco seemed paralysed in fear. Harry followed his line of sight, only to see a gigantic, three-headed dog, peering down at them with menacing eyes. “Harry, I think this is the third floor.” They both screamed and bolted out of the door, slamming it behind them. They ran so fast, there were tears streaming down their faces. It was a miracle they didn’t get caught. When they finally opened the door of their dorm, they closed themselves off with the curtains of Draco’s bed and held each other until the panting stopped. 

“That was the most terrifying experience of my life.” 

“I know.” 

“Why would Dumbledore be keeping that thing in a school? And why would he have it anyway?” 

“Didn’t you see the trapped door under its feet?” 

“There was a trapped door?” Harry looked at Draco incredulously. How could he have been staring at the ground at a time like that? 

“Yeah. Small. Wooden. Clearly it's guarding something.” 

“Guarding something… Like that thing Hagrid got out of Gringotts. Whatever that was is obviously more important than just some trinket for Dumbledore’s office!” 

“Yes, Harry, that probably is what it was, now can we please just go to sleep now?” Harry sighed. “Fine. How about I write to my dads tomorrow, I’ll tell them that old Dumby is keeping a three headed dog as a pet, they’ll ask Dumbledore why, we’ll get an answer.” 

“But won’t your dads be angry that we snuck out?” 

“Please, they did way worse stuff when they were at school. And Dumbledore won’t care, we’ll just tell them why we originally did it. He’ll be sympathetic and won’t tell on us to Filch. Now please, Harry, can we go to bed?” Harry felt better now that he knew adults would be getting involved, and not in a bad way. But it still didn’t help the irking in his chest that told him to go back and see what it really was. Although, he reminded himself, he wouldn’t get anywhere without Draco. 

“Okay. Do you want me to go back to my bed?” Draco was already half asleep, resting his head on Harry’s shoulder. 

“No. Stay. You’re warm.” Harry blushed and nodded, maneuvering their bodies until they were both horizontal and under the covers. They weren’t pressed up as close as they were before, but Harry could still feel the heat of Draco’s body. And it helped that their fingers were still lightly tangled. As sleep drowned them, Harry heard Draco mumble a ‘Goodnight, Harry’. To which he replied, 

“Goodnight, Draco.” 


	8. Chapter Seven

The next morning, Remus and Sirius were sitting in the kitchen and their son’s black owl came in from the window. Attached to its leg was a roll of parchment that Remus quickly undid and read aloud,

_Hey dads, I know it’s early but Harry keeps bugging me to tell you about what happened last night. Please don’t be angry, but we were out after dark, I know we shouldn’t have been but I just really needed to go to the library._

“Sneaking out to go to the library, he’s got some Moony in him after all.” Said Sirius through a mouthful of cereal. 

_But we heard Filch coming before we could go in so we started running and we ended up on the third floor, which Dumbledore banned at the beginning of the year. We unlocked this door and hid inside but there was this big, three-headed dog-_

Sirius spat out his coffee. “A big, three-headed what?” 

“Fucking Dumbledore…” 

_We’re fine, don’t worry, but Harry just wanted me to ask you guys why Dumbs might be keeping it as a pet._

_Lots of love, Draco xxx_

“Is that man serious? Keeping a beast like that on the third floor of a school?” Sirius sounded hysterical and his breakfast was discarded in his haste to get to the bedroom to get fully dressed, presumably so that he could march through the Floo to give Dumbledore yet another piece of his mind. 

“No, you’re Sirius.” Remus chuckled internally, unable to resist, but Sirius shot him a glare that shut him up. “Look, I am sure that there is a perfectly legitimate reason for it. We’ll just ask Dumbledore, calmly, this time.” 

“Moons, the kid has been at the school for three fucking weeks and he’s already found a potentially dangerous animal!” Sirius was chucking on skinny jeans, a white t-shirt and a leather jacket while he was talking, and Remus couldn’t quite help but enjoy the show he was watching. Realistically, he knew that he should be more worried about the animal, but he himself was once the Hogwarts beast, and he had a soft spot for it. 

“Pads, need I remind you that I am probably just as dangerous as that dog?” Pads paused at that, and gave Remus a contemplative look, and then sighed. 

“You’re not dangerous.” 

“I am. Just because we have managed to keep it under wraps for such a long time doesn’t mean it's not real. For all we know, that dog is just another one of the misfits Dumbledore has to keep safe.” Remus’s voice was soft now, gentle but firm. “Even if we don’t trust Dumbledore, we trust Minerva, don’t we? She’ll keep them safe.” 

“I’m just so scared. What happens when Harry and Draco realise that they aren’t like the other kids? What happens when their magic becomes too powerful to control? How are we supposed to handle that?” Remus paused, mulling it over. 

“I don’t have an answer. But I think that, right now, we need to owl Draco and tell him not to sneak out again. You forget that the poor boy is only eleven, we have time.” Padfoot seemed resigned, his anger now dissipated. He dragged his feet into the study and found himself a quill and some parchment, started writing a response, and then tied it to the leg of Draco’s bird. Once it took off, Sirius meandered his way over to Remus and buried his face in his neck. “Everything will be alright, Pads. I promise. One step at a time?” 

“One step at a time.” 

*** 

Draco was sitting in Potions when his owl finally returned to him. With Professor Snape’s permission, he took the letter from the bird, gave it a treat and sent it back to the Owlery. The actual note contained little important information, only to keep his nose out of the matter and that Dumbledore probably had a good reason, which didn’t sound like Pads which suggested that Moony had calmed him down. When he returned to his seat, Draco passed the letter to Harry, who let out a huff of indignation that sounded like he was annoyed at the lack of content the letter provided, but the pair turned their attention back to the board and Snape, who had just started assigning them partners from the other house which was, in this case, Gryffindor. 

Draco found himself partnered up with a bushy haired girl who introduced herself as Hermione, and Harry was left with the redhead they met in the entrance hall, Randy or something. It turned out that the Hermione girl was actually very smart. Draco had always thought that she was somewhat of a know-it-all but she was a lot better to work with than Harry, who constantly needed his precise guidance. While they were working, the pair found themselves having pleasant conversations. They both had a love of Astronomy, a topic they started when Hermione pointed out that his name was a constellation, they loved books, Hermione introduced Draco to some Muggle literature, and Draco got to introduce Hermione to Muggle Rock, something the Sirius was ever-so fond of. In the end, their potion was as close to perfect as it could have been and Snape was begrudgingly impressed, awarding 15 points to Slytherin and 10 to Gryffindor, convinced that Hermione must have been slacking off. 

“I’m sorry about his favouritism, he shouldn’t have done that. It was a joint effort.” Hermione smiled and surveyed him with scrutinising eyes. 

“You know, I have heard many stories about you, Draco Malfoy, but I don’t think that any of them are true.” Draco glowed. Harry was the only person who had ever wanted to get to know him, but he didn’t know any of the stories about him. This Hermione girl clearly did, but she took the time to become friends with him anyway. 

“I like you, Hermione. I hope that we can be friends.” 

“I hope so too.” They both watched as Harry and Ron, Hermione had corrected him, got their potion marked. It was a mess, a bright, oozing yellow rather than the pale gold it was supposed to be. Still, they were laughing so hard, they seemed not to notice. Draco felt a slight pang of jealousy but also remembered the times that he and Harry had laughed that hard. It would be nice, Draco concluded, to have friends in other houses. And, strategically, it seemed like a good idea. “I’m sorry Ron was so rude to you when you first met. His family believe a lot of the stories about you. Nothing against them, they’re lovely people, but the rumours have apparently been circulating for years.” Draco was unfazed. If Ron didn’t want to like him, that wasn’t his fault. But Hermione seemed to think that he had some redeeming qualities, so if they did end up trying again, he wouldn’t be wholly against that. 

“I’m not a werewolf. I don’t know what I am.” 

“You’re human, Draco, nobody deserves that kind of treatment.” Draco smiled at her, she really did seem to know it all. 


	9. Chapter Eight

By the next week, Ron, Harry, Draco and Hermione were all friends. Of course, Harry and Draco still kept themselves to themselves more than anything, and made sure that their group of Slytherin lackeys was still as loyal as ever, but Hermione and Ron proved to themselves to be very good study partners, and Ron was glad to help Harry figure out what was underneath the trapdoor when Draco couldn’t really care less. However, on Halloween, Ron showed up to dinner alone, so Harry sent one of their gang, Millicent Bulstrode, to find out what had happened. After about ten minutes, she returned with the news that Ron and Hermione had had an argument and that Hermione was crying in one of the girls toilets. Pansy Parkinson cackled at that.

“Ugly little thing. The ginger one probably just realised that he could do better.” Draco shot her a quelling look. Harry noticed that Draco was rather fond of Hermione. It made sense, they were the top of the class and both loved reading. But their friendship made Harry uncomfortable for some reason, as though Hermione was taking something that was his. But Harry’s train of thought was intercepted by the doors of the Great Hall slamming open to reveal a distressed looking Professor Quirrell, barreling down the middle aisle, screaming. 

“TROLL… IN THE DUNGEON! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!!” He stopped abruptly and paled. “Just thought you should know.” And then promptly fainted. The hall was sent into chaos, but Dumbledore put everyone in order, commanding prefects to take the houses to their dormitories, even the Slytherins. _But_ , Harry thought, _isn’t the troll in the dungeons?_ Draco gave him a look that told him he wasn’t crazy for being worried. Still, he blindly trusted Dumbledore, as everybody seemed to always do, and began to follow his fellow Slytherins to his common room. On the way there, however, he came to the realisation Hermione was still in the girls toilets. 

“Draco, Hermione doesn’t know there’s a troll!” Draco stopped in his tracks and seemed conflicted. But, after a moment's hesitation, nodded. 

“Alright, well, we should tell a Prefect.” 

“No, they need to take care of all of us! We should go find her and tell her to go to Gryffindor Tower.” 

“Harry, what if we find the troll? What do we do then?” 

“Then we run.” Draco sighed. 

“You’ll do this even if I don’t come with you, won’t you?” Grinning, Harry nodded. “Fine. Lets go.” The pair shucked off their robes when Draco pointed out that if anyone sees a flash of green they’ll immediately send them to the dungeons, and climbed the stairs to the girls toilets. On the way there, however, they saw a flurry of black robes billowing. Snape was headed towards the third floor. 

“What’s he doing?” Draco shook his head in bewilderment. 

“One problem at a time, please.” The pair continued walking until they were stopped again by a putrid smell filling their nostrils. They looked up, only to have their eyes met with a gross, gangly creature, striding down the hall. Harry and Draco ducked behind a statue as it passed, seemingly oblivious to their existence, and watched as it entered the room next to them. “Lock it in, lock it in!” Harry did as he was told and turned the key until he heard a satisfying click. Draco breathed a sigh of relief before freezing, eyes wide at the sound of girlish screams coming from the room they had just locked. “Oh Salazar, unlock the door!” Harry reached forward once more, now panicked, Hermione was now locked in a room with a troll. When the door swung open, the pair darted inside and immediately ducked as a piece of painted plywood came rocketing at their heads. 

“Holy…” Harry trailed off, he could see Hermione in a tight ball underneath the sinks as the troll was advancing on her. “Confuse it.” Draco kicked into action and picked up the plywood that was just thrown at them and a piece of metal plumbing and waved them around, hitting them into stuff and yelling. 

“OVER HERE YOU BIG LUG! COME GET ME!” Harry followed suit until they were both screaming and the troll was turning away from Hermione. Draco threw a pipe at its shoulder but it didn’t seem to see it. 

“HERMIONE RUN!” Hermione darted out from underneath the sinks and placed herself warily behind Draco. Harry, on the other hand, was acting purely on instinct, and took a running jump, fastening his arms around the neck of the troll and shoving, with as much force as he could muster, his wand into the troll’s nose. 

“HARRY, WHAT THE HELL?” Draco was screaming at him. The troll was howling in pain and swinging his bat around with dangerous force. But, just when Harry felt that he was about to be smacked in the head with the club, it stilled and Harry looked up to find the club precariously floating above its head, steadily getting higher. Harry looked down to see Draco holding his wand aloft with grim determination, before releasing the spell, allowing the club to fall and land with a clunk on the troll’s head, knocking it out. 

“Draco! You did it!” Harry cried before removing his wand from the creature’s nose, but Draco shot him a silencing glare. 

“What, Harry Potter, in the name of Salazar Slytherin, was that about? You cannot just leap onto a troll’s back! I swear to Merlin you are going to be the death of me!” Harry looked sheepish and opened his mouth to apologize, but was interrupted by a group of teachers walking in with furious expressions. 

“What on Earth were you thinking of?” She was livid, Harry could tell from that glint in her eye and the curl of her lip. “You’re lucky you weren’t killed. Why aren’t you in your dormitory?” Harry felt small, what could he do? He had dragged Draco into this. Draco who valued his education and house so very much. But then a small voice came from the shadows. 

“Please, Professor McGonnagall - they were looking for me.” 

“Miss Granger!” 

“I went looking for the troll because I - I thought I could deal with it on my own - you know, because I’ve read all about them.” Harry’s jaw dropped. He had never seen straight-laced Hermione lie to a teacher. He had once seen her remind Professor Flitwick that he was supposed to give them homework. “If they hadn’t found me, I’d be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Draco knocked it out with its own club. They didn’t have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived.” Harry and Draco glanced at the teachers to gage their reactions, but Harry’s eyes were caught on whatever Snape was trying to cover with his cloak. It looked like a rip in his trousers that revealed a gaping wound. Harry suppressed a gasp. 

“Well - in that case, Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own? Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this. I am very disappointed in you. If you’re not hurt at all, you’d better get off to Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses.” Hermione left and McGonagall turned to Professor Snape as if to say, _the floor is yours._

“You two have displayed stupidity and foolishness, traits that may be celebrated in other houses,” He spat out the last two words with a pointed look at McGonagall, who looked rather put-out. “but are not celebrated in Slytherin. However, you have also shown incentive, which is admirable. For that, and sheer dumb luck, you will each be awarded 10 points. Now, get back to the dungeons, eat dinner and go straight to bed.” Harry and Draco were about to leave when Snape stopped them, for just a moment. “Draco, don’t think your parents won’t be notified.” Draco nodded, grabbed Harry’s hand and dragged him down the corridor until they were both playfully bumping into each other on their way down the stairs, exchanging sentiments of disbelief. 


	10. Chapter Nine

The next morning at breakfast, a red envelope was deposited into Draco’s scrambled eggs and his blood ran cold.

“Ooh! Draco’s got a Howler!” Cooed Pansy in a sing-song voice. “Go on, Draco, you know what’ll happen if you don’t open it.” He took a deep breath and unfastened the seal, preparing his ears for an onslaught of disappointed yells. In actuality, he was only half right because two voices seemed to be competing for dominance. 

“DRACO, I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU!” 

“Ooh come off it, Moony, WELL DONE KIDDO! YOU DEFEATED A TROLL, THAT'S EPIC!” 

“IT’S NOT ‘EPIC’! I THOUGHT WE TOLD YOU TO STAY OUT OF TROUBLE!” 

“Yeah, I will be having stern words with Dumby after this.” 

“Is that your solution to everything?” 

“Well, it's his fault.” 

“Alright, bye Draco, DON’T SCARE US LIKE THAT AGAIN!” With that final sentiment, the paper exploded in a small _poof_ and Draco looked around to see every eye in the Great Hall fixed on him. To his side, Harry started giggling, the only sound piercing the Great Hall, until Draco himself joined in. The incredulity of the situation sinking in. Ron, after a short pause, joined in with a chortle from the Gryffindor table, which, in turn, inspired Hermione and a few other Gryffindors to join in too. Within minutes, the whole hall was laughing, even Snape’s fiery snarl softened a little. Everybody continued eating their breakfast with light expressions and occasional barks of laughter. It seemed that Draco’s parents still had a knack for brightening everyone’s mood. 

November passed in a hazy blur of lessons and homework, only split up by the time Harry and Draco spent with each other, and occasionally Ron and Hermione. The weather was bitterly cold but everyone was gearing up for the next Quidditch match, Griffindor vs. Slytherin. Harry and Draco were, in particular, very excited because Draco had apparently been riding on brooms since he was very young, and Harry was fascinated by the idea. Riding a broom in his first flying lesson was the most exhilarating feeling he had ever experienced, and the pair had made a pact to try out together in 2nd Year. According to Draco, Sirius was a Beater, while Harry’s father was a Chaser. Harry wasn’t 100% sure that he knew what these positions were, but he was excited to learn. 

When the big match came around, Harry and Draco put on as many Slytherin-branded items as they could and found a place in the stands to watch. It was incredible, unlike anything Harry had ever seen. Draco explained what each player was doing as they were doing it, along with making snarky comments each time one of them made a mistake. To anyone other than Harry, Draco’s words would be seen as mean, but, to him, they were just funny. Each had a witty charm to them that fitted so well with Draco’s ability to pinpoint defects in someone’s character with so much ease. If Harry was being totally honest, he spent quite a bit of time just waiting for Draco to say something again, enraptured by the sound of his childish giggle. Slytherin won, as was their streak, and Harry and Draco were ecstatic. With so much prejudice against their house, it felt really good to have some pride. 

At the raging party in the Slytherin common room, Harry got to talking with the Seeker of the team, Terrence Higgs, a tall, lanky boy with terrifyingly straight, white teeth. He was told that this boy was in his last year of school and that the Seeker position would be open next year. This sent a jolt of excitement through Harry, he was watching the Seeker avidly throughout the game and decided that it was his favourite. However, this invited the problem that there was only one available position on the team. Harry felt his heart sink. He had so hoped to be able to play with Draco, or play at all. Harry knew that, with Draco’s prior experience, he would be the one getting on the team, if one of them was going to. It made Harry a little sad, especially seeing as Draco didn’t even want the Seeker position, he wanted to be a Chaser. But he didn’t let it show, more than anything, he was happy for Draco and he didn’t really have to worry about any of this until 2nd Year. 

What he did find himself worrying about, though, was Snape. On the night of Halloween, Harry spotted Snape going up towards the third floor and then with a fresh wound on his leg that he was acting suspiciously about. Putting two and two together, Harry came to the conclusion that Snape had tried to get past that three-headed dog thing, and failed. He must have released the troll into the dungeon, hoping for it to be enough of a diversion to allow him to slip away unnoticed. Harry shared his theories with Ron, who met them with enthusiasm. 

“You seriously saw a giant three-headed dog in the castle?” He asked incredulously. 

“Keep your voice down, yes, Draco and I saw it. It looked like it was guarding something.” Ron had a gleam in his eye. 

“Let's talk to Hagrid! He knows about all of the animals in Hogwarts!” Harry wasn’t sure, the man had been so nice when he first met him, but since then they had barely spoken two words. Only that stunted conversation about Draco on the train station. 

“I don’t know, I think he’s kind of mad at me.” 

“Why would he be mad at you?” 

“I don’t know. I think he doesn’t really like Draco, he warned me to stay away from him.” Ron paused, looking wary. 

“Well, don’t take this the wrong way, Harry, but I sort of understand where he’s coming from.” 

“What, why?” It was so frustrating, how everyone seemed to be afraid of Draco. He was an eleven-year-old boy. What could he possibly do? 

“Well, there are a lot of rumours, you know that.” 

“You cannot possibly think he’s a werewolf.” 

“I don’t! And neither does Hagrid. But that's just the mainstream rumour. There's talk about you, too and, I think, seeing you so chummy isn’t really helping.” Ron looked like he was withholding information. 

“What are you not telling me?” Ron cringed and opened his mouth to speak before he was interrupted by the presence of the giant man. 

“‘Ello ‘Arry, Ron! ‘Ow are things?” Hagrid was avoiding eye contact with Harry, instead looking anywhere but. 

“Hello, Hagrid. We were actually just talking about you!” Ron said, clearly thrilled at the interruption. “We want to ask you about an animal.” Hagrid nodded at him to continue. “What do you know about three-headed dogs?” 


	11. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I just wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you to everybody who has left comments, kudos or subscribed it makes me so happy! I have this story all planned out, up to the last book, and I hope I'll be able to write it all because I really like the ideas I'm having.
> 
> Just wanted to say, the next two chapters (after this one) are going to be over the Christmas holidays, I wanted to spend some time developing the relationships between Sirius, Remus, Harry and Draco. 
> 
> Enjoy ♡

“ _Fluffy?_ The thing is called _Fluffy_?” Draco sneered incredulously. Honestly, that was hardly the most shocking part of Harry and Ron’s story. But Draco was rather angry that they were still pursuing this mystery anyway.

“Yeah, and he said something about a man named Nicolas Flamel!” Ron nodded along as Harry gave Draco the play-by-play, still half afraid to speak to the boy unless spoken to. 

“Okay, so are you guys going to spend hours in the library now? Looking for information on this man?” Harry gave Draco a pleading look. 

“Come on, Draco! You’re amazing at research! We would get this done so much faster if you helped us.” Draco was flattered by the compliment but there was a small nagging in his brain that told him that the name ‘Nicolas Flamel’ was familiar. 

“Look, I just don’t understand why you would put yourself in danger for this!” 

“We’re not in dang-” 

“I’m sorry was I the only one who saw the three-headed dog?” 

“Okay besides Fluffy.” Harry conceded. “But we’re not gonna do anything.” 

“Then where is this research leading you?” 

“Look, we think that Snape is trying to steal whatever Fluffy is guarding! Please, help usssss…” Harry had turned on the puppy eyes that Draco simply couldn’t resist. They were terrifyingly green. Suddenly, a light bulb switched on in his head and he watched Harry beg for a few more seconds before huffing indignantly. 

“Only for you, Harry Potter. And there is something I know.” Harry’s eyes lit up and suddenly everything was worth it. 

“What is it? What do you know?” Even Ron had abandoned his former stony silence in favour of curiosity. 

“Ron, do you by any chance happen to have the Dumbledore Chocolate Frog card on you?” Draco has always had a flair for the dramatics. 

“I actually do, hold on.” With that, he conveniently pulled out a stack of shiny cards and spilled them on the library table. He plucked out the Dumbledore card with practised ease and presented it to Draco, who, in turn, read from it aloud. 

“Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for _blah blah blah_ and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicolas. Flamel.” He finished with a flourish and placed the card face up on the table. Ron stared at it for a while and then looked up. 

“Well it's not much, is it?” Draco shot him a glare which made him shrink up in his seat. 

“It’s better than nothing.” But Harry’s eyes were filled with nothing but adoration. 

“I think it's wonderful, Draco.” Ron’s eyes darted between the two other boys with scrutiny before clearing his throat and standing up. 

“Well, I’m off, I said I’d meet Hermione. Bye!” 

“Bye, Ron!” Draco didn’t bother watching him leave, instead in deep thought over an important matter. 

“Harry,” He started, and the other boy's eyes swivelled back to him when called. “What are you doing for Christmas?” 

“Probably staying here, I don’t really want to go back to the Dursleys.” 

“Well, Pads and Moony asked if you wanted to come and stay with us. I mean, we could spend every day together, and you can get to know your godfather.” Draco felt suddenly sheepish, knowing that it was probably a stupid offer, but Harry’s eyes were suddenly glassy and his smile, watery. 

“Draco, I would love that. Are you sure that's okay?” Draco grinned. 

“Of course it's okay! You’re my best friend!” The pair embrace and Harry let out a wet sob before pulling himself together and laughing. 

“This is going to be so much fun!” 

“Hold on! I’ll write to my dads and tell them!” Draco could not wait for the Christmas Holidays. 


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for a bunch of family cuteness. I just love Remus and Sirius raising Draco!

It ended up being that Harry would be sleeping on the floor in Draco’s room, even though they had a spare. Both boys decided that it would be endless amounts of fun to wake up together on Christmas morning, so it all worked out, despite protestations from Moony. So, on Christmas Eve, Harry and Draco hid themselves underneath the blanket of Draco’s bed with a flashlight.

“So, what are you hoping to get tomorrow?” Harry paused and bit his lip before answering. 

“I don’t know, I haven’t really gotten Christmas presents before.” Draco’s eyes widened. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, are you Jewish? Do you not celebrate Christmas?” 

“Heh, no we do celebrate Christmas, at least the Dursleys do but, I was never given any presents.” 

“...Why not?” 

“I don’t think they liked me very much.” Harry nibbled his lip as Draco watched on, concerned. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

“...Not on Christmas. But, maybe sometime? Would that be okay?” Draco had never seen Harry look so scared, even when they were fighting the troll or running from Filch. 

“Of course it's okay, you’re my best friend! We can tell each other anything!” 

“I’m really happy, Draco. Thank you for inviting me here.” Draco could sense that there was more weight in that sentence that he let on, but could also tell that Harry wanted to change the conversation. 

“You know, I think it's going to snow tomorrow…” 

The next morning, Harry and Draco awoke to find the entire world wrapped in a thick blanket of snow. They gasped and ran downstairs only to find a mountain of presents waiting for them under the tree. 

“MOONY!! PADS!! IT’S CHRISTMAS!!” Draco yelled, running into their room. “WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UUUUP!!” 

“Five more minutes…” 

“NO! WE NEED TO OPEN OUR PRESENTS!!” 

“Look! Draco! Stockings! And there’s one with my name on it!” Leaping off from the bed where he was ruthlessly attacking Remus and Sirius with pillows, Draco squealed. He always became a child again when Christmas came. The two boys settled themselves in front of the tree with a stocking each on their lap, and the two men wandered in, eyes puffy with sleep. 

“Alright, go ahead. But just the stockings, mind you, we’re doing the real presents later.” Remus chided, as he went to go make some hot chocolate. The stockings themselves contained sweets of all shapes and sizes, and small trinkets like Exploding Snap Cards or a toy from Zonko’s. When Moony had passed around a hot chocolate for everyone, Harry and Draco began to calm down, but their faces, Harry’s in particular, were the pictures of ecstasy. The day continued at a lazy pace, Remus began working on dinner while Sirius played in the snow with the boys. Harry seemed unusually sensitive to the cold and found himself in the kitchen, helping Moony, but Sirius and Draco continued playing for longer, throwing snowballs in each other’s faces and making snow angels. At one point, Sirius even transformed into Padfoot and chased Draco around the garden in circles. While they were lying on their backs, after making said snow angels, Sirius grinned lazily. 

“Do you know how much I love you, kid? I don’t think I say it enough.” Draco watched as his breath made patterns in the air. 

“You say it just enough, I think. I love you too.” Sirius turned himself so that he was lying on his side, and Draco mirrored him, invested in the seriousness of the discussion. 

“I know it's Christmas, and I don’t want to get too morbid, but I just want you to know how much you mean to me.” There was something about Sirius’s expression that unnerved Draco, but he didn’t press it, knowing that he would be told eventually. The older man shivered, even though Draco had never felt toastier in his life, and suggested that they go in and check on Remus and Harry. When they entered the kitchen, it was alive with the Christmas spirit. From the comforting warmth of the room to the mouth-watering smell of the food, everything was screaming love and happiness. Harry was in the corner, chopping carrots. “Oh, come on, Moons! What have you got the kid cooking for?” Harry blushed a soft pink and kept his head firmly down. 

“He insisted, and he’s not half bad.” Draco saw his dads share a pointed look, there were many things that were being hidden away from him this Christmas. But all of his worries melted away when they were all sitting at the table, pulling crackers. They laughed and talked and raved about the food, which could rival the Hogwarts welcome feast, and finally gathered in the sitting room when they were almost too stuffed to move. Draco set about splitting the presents into piles. His was the largest, but Harry’s had a suspicious package from a mysterious person. “Did you put that in there, Pads?” said Moony. 

“No, I’ve never seen it before.” 

“Open it! Open it!” Harry first read the label with a bemused smile. 

“I don’t recognise the handwriting, do you, Sirius?” He passed the note to Pads, whose face then settled in a grim mask. 

“Dumby.” It sounded like more of a growl that a word, but everyone understood. 

“Dumbledore gave me this?” 

“Yes, and I think I can guess what it is.” Harry ripped the paper off to reveal a large cut of fabric, that seemed to be made of water and shimmered like a lake. 

“What is it, dad?” Draco scooted closer to Harry and admired the stitching on the glorious garment. 

“That is James’s invisibility cloak.” A gasp was emitted from both boys and they looked at the shiny material in wonder. Harry cautiously wrapped it around his body, hiding it completely from view. All that was left of him was his head which was floating in a slightly hilarious, if unnerving, way. 

“Cool!” Draco was beyond any other sentiment. This was the greatest Christmas present a person could get, especially if you have a taste for restricted information and are living in a boarding school. He didn’t bother pointing out how much time they could spend in the restricted section, he didn’t need to, he felt instinctively that Harry knew. The dark-haired boy grinned and peered down at his body, or at least where his body used to be. 

“Woah. I can’t believe that Dumbledore would give me this.” 

“I can.” Sirius was gritting his teeth and Moony was rubbing his shoulder in calming motions. “It’s like he’s asking you two to go out and get into trouble.” Harry looked suddenly guilty. “Oh no, it’s okay Harry, your father and I used to use that cape all the time at Hogwarts, just make sure you don’t go too far. Dumbledore can’t keep an eye on you if he can’t see you.” 

“Okay. We’ll be careful.” Draco glowed internally at the inclusion. Although getting into trouble was never something he was too fond of, he liked the sound of access to the restricted section, especially now that he was looking for something specific. 

“Alright, let's open some more presents shall we?” Remus suggested, bringing back the jolly atmosphere that had surrounded them before. 

“Ooh, dad! Open yours from me!” Moony reached into his pile until he found one that had his name penned in Draco’s handwriting. It was a thick blanket with a sea of stitched stars and moons on the side. The moment Draco saw it, he knew that his father would love it. He always said that he and Sirius were the stars to his moon. 

After that, Sirius opened up his gifts. From Draco, a CD of his favourite Muggle punk band and from Remus, a new bottle of his favourite cologne. The look in his eye suggested that this wasn’t the only present Moony would be giving him, but Draco turned away in silent disgust before he could know for sure. Sirius had gotten Harry a book of photographs of himself, Harry’s father, Moony and a small, stout man Draco had never seen before. Remus told the boys that the man was no longer their friend because he turned out to be a follower of Voldemort, so Sirius had made a rather funny show of defacing the mystery man each picture that included him with moustaches and stupid hats. Harry had thanked Sirius profusely and promised that he would start writing to them himself once he got back to Hogwarts. 

*** 

Draco had spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to get Harry. He knew that the boy was reckless and caring, and loved learning new things, but only when it was something that interested him. Eventually, Draco came to the decision of getting Harry a book. But not just any book, one that he had found the last time he visited Grimmauld Place, which had been a few days prior to because Sirius had wanted to fetch the old photographs. The book was unassuming from the outside, but within was an Encyclopedia of all things wizard. Harry simply needed to wave his wand over it and it would show him all the information it could find. He loved it. He raved on and on, once they had made it back to Draco’s room, about how useful it would be for learning about the Wizarding World, and also their research on Nicolas Flamel. 

Draco, in turn, was thrilled with his gift from Harry, too. It was a small Muggle instrument. A harm-on-ee-car, Harry had said. It was pocket sized and rectangular with an engraving on the side of the ‘Draco’ constellation. When Harry demonstrated how to use it, it created a lovely, warm sound that touched something inside of Draco. It took him a little while to get the hang of it, but soon he could play tunes. It came in a velvet box, in which Draco stored it with meticulous care whenever he wasn’t playing with it or admiring the engraving. 

It had been, Draco concluded, the best Christmas ever. 


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING! Slight discussion of something that could perhaps be an eating disorder so please avoid if you feel like you could be triggered by that! This is something that I will probably discuss more of later, maybe not in this specific work, but I'm only mentioning it a little in this one. 
> 
> Get ready for some Lupin-Black family cuteness! They are so fun to write about, I just couldn't get enough haha.

Three days before Harry and Draco were due to return to Hogwarts, Remus and Sirius felt as though they needed to have some difficult conversations that they had been putting off. It started with Remus as he asked to have a private word with Draco and led him to the kitchen.

“I want to talk to you, Draco, because we haven’t really mentioned it since the beginning of term, about well… I think you know. I just want to make sure that you are okay.” Draco stilled slightly before his eyes softened. 

“I’m okay, dad. I don’t see you any differently, if that’s what you’re worried about. And I understand why you didn’t tell me. I just want you to know that I love you, no matter what.” Remus’s eyes were prickling. Truly, he was worried about Draco seeing him differently. But, the person he saw before him was not a boy anymore, he was growing into a man. Remus was proud that he and Sirius had managed to raise him to be good. 

“Thank you, Draco.” The pair shared a look that carried more weight than they spoke about. “But, I did get a letter from Harry.” 

“When?” 

“A few weeks after we spoke. He was worried about you, said you were doing excessive research or something.” Draco looked down at his palms. 

“I’m sorry. I know it won’t help but it makes me feel calmer. It makes me feel like I understand it a little better.” 

“I know, I know. I did the same thing, so did your father. But, what I’m really worried about is what Harry said about you skipping meals.” It was a huge worry for Remus, actually. He could understand better than anyone the temptation to shun your own needs for that of someone else's. At the time, he thought about writing to Draco, to scold him for missing meals, but he knew that it wouldn’t have helped. So he asked Harry to keep an eye on him, and Minerva. Harry would sneak more food onto Draco’s plate or come up with some excuse for them eating together. And Minerva would turn a blind eye when Draco would sneak out to do more research. For the good friends he knew Draco had, Remus was eternally grateful. As was Sirius, who had found it difficult to stay calm. They both knew how lucky they were that Harry had alerted them, if it had gone on they didn’t know what could have happened. 

“I’m so sorry, dad. I just didn’t feel hungry. I would rather be doing so many other things.” Draco was speaking in a tight, strained voice and was hiding ducking his head into his chest, a coping mechanism that he developed before he was adopted because it made him feel safer not to let his emotions show. Remus reached out and grasped his shoulder. 

“Look, it’s okay. But please, please just talk to us about it. You know how much your dad and I love you!” He was crying, himself now. They sat in silence apart from the occasional sniffle and Draco allowed himself to be held in a crushing hug as they both settled down. “You know I’m happy, right? The transformation doesn’t stop me from being happy! Your father comes with me when you’re away, he turns into a dog, it’s actually quite fun.” They both let out a wet chuckle at the image of Sirius yapping away. “And you know, I’m registered now.” Draco looked up and peered into his father’s face. 

“You had to?” 

“Yes, but I’m not angry about it. I just had to pay a fine for keeping it a secret.” Draco nodded, and then opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a soft knock came from the door. “Come in!” 

“Hey, am I interrupting anything?” A familiar voice rang through the room. 

“Nah, come in, Pads.” Sirius’s strong arms wrapped around his two favourite people. “You know, Draco, you’re dad has a job now.” 

“Really? What?” Draco perked his head up and grinned at his father. 

“I am working at - wait for it - Zonko's!” Their son cackled. 

“Seriously?” 

“Siriusly! And old Zonko is getting on a bit so who knows? He might die and leave the place to his most trusted employee.” 

“Like you could be a trusted employee.” 

“Hey! I’m totally trustworthy…” Remus watched as his wonderful son and husband argued playfully and smiled. When he first was bitten, he didn’t even know if he could have a family let alone one so incredible as this one. The universe was clearly making up for the huge injustice they did him before. The only word that could be used to describe his emotions in that moment was _love_. Pure, unadulterated love. 

“I love you two.” 

“Love you too, dad.” 

“Yeah, love you too, Moony.” 

*** 

The second conversation happened at the same time, and Sirius was nervous. The second Remus and Draco left, he turned to Harry who was flicking through the picture book he had gotten for Christmas. 

“I can’t believe you trashed Filch’s office!” Sirius smiled, he remembered that. 

“Oh yes, that was a good day. The slimy git had just banned stink bombs, and we were not happy.” Harry reverently closed the book and looked up at Sirius with open eyes. Lily’s eyes, he noted. He still felt that lurch in his stomach whenever Harry reminded him of his late best friends but, now it had a bittersweet tone. As though they were living on through their child. It made Sirius feel more hopeful about the future, which seemed so set in stone. “Harry, can we talk for a second?” 

“Sure.” The boy looked nervous, probably anticipated some kind of scolding, Sirius realised with a pang, so he quickly clarified and took a seat next to Harry on the sofa. 

“I want to talk about how you’re doing. I am technically your godfather so it is my duty to check.” Harry’s eyes dimmed slightly. 

“Are you asking about the Dursleys?” His voice was low and gravelly. 

“Yes. But you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to. But, if you did want to, I’m here.” The dark-haired boy seemingly shrank. “Alright, lets try something else. What about, you come and stay here over Easter, and even the Summer holidays, if you want? Would you like that?” Sirius had clearly said the right thing because Harry perked up and grinned. 

“Really? You’re not kidding?” 

“No, I’m Sirius.” He deadpanned and Harry cackled with glee. 

“I would love to, thank you!” The two embraced and Sirius felt a strange sort of relief. As though he was saving the boy from an unnameable evil. 

“You can call me Pads if you want to, you know.” He stated when they released. 

“Okay, Pads.” Harry glowed. 

“Why don’t you carry on flipping through that book, I need to go check on Draco and Moony.” Sirius stood up and moved towards the door, but just before he left he added. “When I come back I’ll tell you about our work with Peeves.” 

Sirius didn’t know what kind of home Harry had lived in only a term before, but he’d be damned if he let Harry go back. 


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've just finished the Philosopher's Stone and I've started on the Chamber of Secrets! BIG HUGS ♡ I'm very excited about all of this!!

The end of the Christmas holidays came too soon for Harry. The family atmosphere filled him with such a feeling of longing that it hurt just a little. But he could see better days on the horizon, especially now that he would be staying with the Lupin-Blacks over Easter and perhaps even over the Summer holidays. Still, it felt good to return to Hogwarts. It was the first place that had ever felt like home to him and would always hold a special place in his heart. The first night back, Harry and Draco huddled together on Draco’s bed and pored over Harry’s new book. He waved his wand over it, whispering the name Nicolas Flamel and black text bled onto the page. It wasn’t as much as their previous searches had provided them with (Jokey things like ‘Quidditch Fails’ and ‘Celestia Warbeck’), but it was still more than they had before. It told them, aside from useless information about his height and age, which was an astounding 653, that he was the only known maker of the Philosopher’s Stone. It did not say what the Philosopher’s Stone was, but it must be valuable.

“That must be what Fluffy’s hiding!” said Harry, and Draco nodded, lip between his teeth. “I wonder what it does.” 

“Probably something to do with life extension, look at how old he is.” He murmured, fascinated. “I wonder why someone extending their life is a good thing.” 

“Well, he keeps his wife around, look.” Harry pointed his index finger towards the part of the page that showed a counter displaying his wife’s age. 

“Still, surely that is a very dangerous thing if it got into the wrong hands.” 

“I suppose that’s why it's in Hogwarts, isn’t this the safest place on Earth?” 

“I wouldn’t trust Dumbledore as far as I can throw him, if I'm being totally honest.” 

“He does seem a little cooky.” Harry frequently found himself wondering why the old wizard had left him at the Dursley’s when there was a perfectly capable legal guardian waiting for him in the magic world. “Do you think he’s using the stone to carry on living? He seems old enough.” 

“Imagine being old for all eternity, I would hate it.” And just like that, the mood was light again and the boys stayed up chatting until the sun came up and their voices hoarse. 

*** 

A few nights later, after catching up on some much needed sleep, Harry decided to test out his new toy. He was going to share this experience with Draco, but quite liked the idea of being on his own the first time, and Draco understood, opting instead to carry on merrily playing his Harmonica in the common room. Harry wandered aimlessly through the halls, marvelling at his now complete invisibility, until he came upon an unused classroom that he had never seen before. 

Overcome with curiosity, even if his rational head knew that the classroom would be nothing more than that, a classroom, he pushed open the door and stepped inside, shutting it behind him and draping the cloak over his arm. The room was barren except for the furniture that was propped up against the walls and the large, ornate mirror, standing tall in the centre. It was magnificent. Harry traced it’s contours with wonder. Along the top was an inscription: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. It must be Latin, Harry thought. Resting his eyes finally on his own reflection, Harry started. There were people behind him. He turned, finding that he was as alone in the room as he was before. But the mirror still reflected the faces of strange people, all familiar. On his left, Harry saw the faces of Sirius, Remus and Draco grinning at him. On his right, his mother and father, serene and peaceful. Harry felt tears prickle his eyes and that sense of longing that he had felt all over the holiday tripled into a dull ache that seemed to carve a hole in his chest. Merlin, how he longed for a family. When he looked closer, he saw generations of Potters, stretching out for miles behind James and Lily. He wanted, so desperately, to switch places with Mirror Harry, if only for a second. But if he stayed in there for a second, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to bring himself out again. 

Harry needed to show Draco, he needed someone to tell him that he wasn’t crazy. He hastily covered himself in the cloak and sped down the hall until he reached the Slytherin common room, where he held the cloak open and demanded that Draco come with him. After some protestations, Harry finally planted the other boy in front of the mirror and waited for his reaction. His face lit up. 

“Woah! Harry, look!” 

“What do you see, Draco?” 

“It’s you and me...” 

“Yes…” 

“And Pads and Moony…” 

“Yes...” 

“But we’re all older.” 

“What?” Harry was confused, when he had looked in the mirror, everyone was the right age. 

“Oh, wow.” Draco’s voice was suddenly thick with emotion. “That’s really Moony...” Then, his expression changed from one of awe to one of horror. He gasped, tears streaking down his face. “Oh..” 

“What… what is it?” But Draco shook his head and wiped his eyes hastily, pulling himself together. 

“Nothing, we’re just surrounded by piles of gold.” 

“Oh.” 

“Did you see that too, when you looked in?” Harry shook his head. 

“No, I saw my parents, and you guys.” 

“Interesting. I wonder what this Mirror does?” Their conversation was interrupted by a sudden shuffle of footsteps outside the room. 

“Let’s go.” 


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of what Dumby says in this chapter is taken directly from the book, it all belongs to JK (even though I think she was very mean on Twitter and all that).

Harry spent every night for the following two weeks gazing into the mirror. He was exhausted the next day but at least he was happy. Draco continued to tell him that the mirror was some dark piece of magic and that he shouldn’t put so much faith in it, but he didn’t care. He had absolutely no idea what the mirror did, that is until Dumbledore found him.

“So -- back again, Harry?” Harry jumped and turned fearfully to face the old man. 

“I - I didn’t see you, sir.” 

“Strange how short-sighted being invisible can make you.” Dumbledore was an old coot and Harry was at his wits end with these ridiculous riddles. Still, it wasn’t like he could ask the man to leave, especially being that he was apparently the one who gave Harry the invisibility cloak in the first place. “So, you like hundreds before you have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised.” 

“I didn’t know it was called that, sir.” 

“But I expect you’ve realised by now what it does?” 

“It - well - it shows me and my family - and Draco and his parents” 

“And it shows your friend, Draco, with his family and you.” 

“How did you know -” 

“I don’t need a cloak to become invisible.” said Dumbledore with an air of mystery that Harry couldn’t stand. “Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?” Harry shook his head. “Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised as a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help?” 

“It shows us what we want… whatever we want…” 

“Yes and no.” There he went with the riddle-talking again, Harry had to refrain from rolling his eyes. “It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, more desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you.” Dumbledore paused, looking grave. 

“What about Draco?” But the old man shook his head and continued as if Harry hadn’t said anything. 

“However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or possible.” The pair sat in a comfortable silence for a little while. A small part of Harry was confused at Dumbledore’s blatant ignorance of his question after Draco. Usually, if he didn’t want to answer a question, he would do it, but not directly. In the most confusing and pretentious way that he could so as the person who asked the question forgets why they asked in the first place. But this time, he just seemed sad and broken, and couldn’t even bring himself to recognise that Harry had spoken. The larger part, however, just felt hollow at the knowledge that the Mirror did not show him another universe. Only the one he wished he was living in. “The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever _do_ run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. Now, why don’t you put that admirable Cloak back on and get off to bed?” Harry stood up to leave but paused to ask Dumbledore what he saw in the Mirror. The older man lied, Harry could tell by the way a dark cloud crossed over his features as he stared into Harry’s soul. But, Harry had thought, it wasn’t his place to pry. 

*** 

When he told Draco about the Mirror’s real use, the boy’s eyes filled with angry tears. 

“No. That wrinkled grape must be lying to you. There is no way.” Harry was baffled, perhaps Draco wasn’t honest about what he had seen either. 

“Draco, why would he lie?” 

“I don’t know, why is he keeping a giant squid in a lake? The man does things for dumb reasons.” Harry had to give Draco that, but he knew, somewhere, that what he was seeing was his heart’s greatest desire. And he reckoned that Draco knew that too. 

But, Draco avoided his gaze for a week after that conversation, seemingly terrified to catch his eye. Harry had tried, he even downright took Draco’s face in his hands and pointed it to him, missing the molten gray he loved so very much. But the boy was still stubborn. Even Ron had noticed, he pulled Harry aside after he and Draco had filled the Gryffindors in on their most recent knowledge (Hermione had actually drooled at the sight of Harry’s book, it was rather funny). 

“Are you and Draco okay? Did you have a fight or something?” Ron’s face was ghastly white, but all of his colour returned with a relieved sigh when Harry reassured him that they did not. Not only was Ron worried about their supposed fight, as were their Slytherin gang, who had been on eggshells all week, not speaking unless spoken to and avoiding all snarky comments, even when Draco’s hair looked like a birds nest. One night in particular, when they were all gathered around the fire in the Slytherin common room, there came a ripple in their group dynamic. Blaise and Theo were immersed in a game of Wizards Chess, Pansy and Millicent were doing each other’s nails and whispering, and Draco was contentedly piping out a silly tune on his harmonica. It was happy and light and it made Harry feel quite relaxed. Suddenly, he stopped, freezing, and everyone looked up. His eyes were fixed on the fire. 

“Turn it off. Now.” Pansy, who was closest to the fire, followed Draco’s orders and doused it. The seconds she did, the blond relaxed in his seat and continued playing as though nothing had happened. The rest of the night was spent in a tense atmosphere as everyone tried not to provoke Draco again. Harry asked him if he was okay but he didn’t seem to remember it happening at all. 

“Seriously? You don’t remember?” Draco seemed baffled. 

“No, I don’t remember. Are you feeling okay, Harry? Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey.” Their eyes caught and, for once, Draco didn’t look away. But he did look scared, lonely somehow. Dread painting his features. But he schooled his mask neutral and held the gaze. “I’m sorry I’ve been distant this week. We both need each other, that wasn’t fair. Forgive me?” 

“Always.” 


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How are you guys liking it so far? We're nearing the end!! ♡☆

Exam revision had momentarily put a pause on Harry, Ron, Draco and Hermione’s investigation. The latter two immersed themselves in piles of work, testing each other night and day, and the former simple did their best to keep up. Occasionally, though, when they weren’t feeling too up to Potions or Transfiguration, Ron and Harry speculated over Snape’s nefarious intentions. Draco didn’t like it all that much, and reminded them continuously that exams should be their top priority, but they didn’t listen and instead decided that they would go and have tea with the gamekeeper, of all things, to ‘try and find out some more information’. While they were there, Draco took a break from studying and talked with Hermione.

“Do you endorse all of this?” The girl chuckled and turned to him with a tired smile. 

“It’s their funeral. I think, though, that they’ll be safer if we’re there.” 

“Should we be doing research then? Try to help?” 

“What more can we do? They’ll come back from this with some amazing new discovery and we’ll do all the heavy lifting and then they’ll take the glory. I’m okay with that, so should you be. We’re the brains.” Draco smiled. He liked Hermione. He really did. She was rational and nice to him and didn’t have that stupid recklessness that Harry frequently displayed. She was a good confidant to have, but Draco sure as hell wasn’t telling her what was really on his mind. He didn’t have to come up with something witty to say, however, because Hermione’s prediction came true and two boys rushed to their table, panting and trying to convey some message. 

“Dragon-” 

“-Egg thing-” 

“-Hagrid-” 

“-Norway-” 

“What?” Hermione was watching them as though they were some puzzle pieces, that she only needed to slot together, whereas Draco was grinning and laughing at the state of them. 

“Did you run all the way here?” He managed to get out through his giggles. Harry’s breathing was finally under control and he managed to form a coherent sentence. 

“Hagrid has a dragon egg.” 

“Oh, son of a Hippogriff, seriously?” said Draco, rolling his eyes. Of course they now had to deal with a dragon. “Weasley, isn’t your brother a dragon expert or something? Can’t we just get him over here to take the dragon?” 

“Yeah, he is, but Hagrid would be so crushed.” said Ron, still panting slightly. 

“You know what else will be crushed if we don’t get rid of the dragon? Hogwarts. Owl your brother.” So the Weasley Owled his brother. To which he replied with an affirmative, that they would be taking the dragon on Saturday. But, before that, the four had to trudge their way down to Hagrid’s hut to witness the hatching. It was actually quite fascinating. They way it clawed its way through the thick shell and then fixed it’s eye on Hagrid immediately. It almost made Draco feel bad for taking it, but not quite. After much convincing, Saturday finally rolled around and Harry and Draco had the task of delivering the dragon to Charlie Weasley’s friends. Ron had wanted to come but he had received an awful bite from Norbert (that was the name of the blasted thing) and had to stay in the hospital wing. Still, Draco was happy to help if it meant getting rid of the stupid baby dragon. For some unknown reason, Draco was filled with a gross hate for the thing. He tried not to dwell on it, telling himself that it was just because he didn’t like animals, but on the way back something happened. Even though he had no memory of it. According to Harry, he noticed a small scorch mark on his trousers and had ripped off the cloak in the middle of the hall, which was strange because he had absolutely no recollection of it. And they got caught. And now they had detention. With Hagrid. Great. 

*** 

Filch delivered the pair to Hagrid, who was standing outside the entrance to the forbidden forest with a large crossbow on his arm and a dozen arrows. It wasn’t the most comforting sight. It was clear that they would be going into the forest, but Draco wasn’t that afraid. He knew the stories of what his dad’s got up to in school better than anyone, and the forbidden forest was the least of his worries. Maybe if he explained to the creatures that he was the son of their werewolf and wiry dog friends they would understand? Harry, Draco and Fangs, Hagrid’s other dog, were sent off to one side of the woods to look for the dead unicorn and Hagrid was on his own, but Draco had no doubt that the man would defend himself. As they walked, Harry began explaining the strange conversation that he had heard earlier. 

“...and then Quirrell was all ‘No- not again, please!’ and then he ran out of the room and Snape looked really pleased and I mean it was so obvious that Snape was torturing him! I bet he was using medieval methods, some really gruesome ones. Maybe Snape is trying to make Quirrell go into the dungeon for him… Or maybe! Oh, Draco, do you remember what Hagrid said about…” Draco drowned the rest of it out as his eyes caught on a hooded figure kneeling over the corpse of something white and glowing, pressing it’s teeth to its neck. The unicorn! Harry had stopped speaking, instead gasping and holding his forehead in pain. 

“Are you okay, Harry?” Draco whispered, even though he knew that the figure could hear them. At Harry’s name, the shadow-man stood up and loomed towards them. Draco shrieked and ran, sensing that the best thing he could do was find Hagrid to tell him what was happening. When he found him, the man looked more scared of him than of the story of the mysterious figure, but followed him nonetheless. They didn’t need to go far, though, because Harry was delivered to them on the back of a man with a horse’s body. “Harry!” Draco rushed forward and embraced him as he dismounted the centaur. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” After saying goodbye to the man-horse, ‘Firenze’ Harry said his name was, the party walked slowly back to Hagrid’s hut where the two Slytherin boys said their goodbyes and walked back to the castle. When they got to the Slytherin dormitories, Draco fished under his bed for some left-over Christmas chocolate and gave it to Harry, who had looked spooked since he first saw the unicorn. 

“Chocolate is the best remedy.” 

“Thanks, Draco. You’re amazing.” The blond blushed lightly as Harry’s words. 

“So are you, Harry. So are you.” 


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this chapter is MUCH shorter than the others so I might post the next one later today idk. Also, I've given Hogwarts an Easter holiday, I don't think they had that in the books but I wanted to give them one because Hogwarts Easter Egg Hunts would be EPIC.
> 
> Anyways, thank you for your comments as always ♡☆

Harry spent Easter at the Lupin-Black’s and it was incredible. He and Draco had an egg hunt in the garden and stayed up all night talking. Seeing as Harry was now keeping up a correspondence with Sirius, he felt even more at home there than he did before. But, the bliss had to come to an end and Harry and Draco returned to Hogwarts with the most incredible chocolate stashes and exams on their minds.

How Harry was managing to get through his exams was a mystery to everyone. He didn’t study like Hermione and Draco, he didn’t buckle down at the last minute, like Ron. But he was fixated on the mystery of the Philosopher’s Stone. One day, he was struck with an idea and dragged Ron, Hermione and Draco to Hagrid’s hut. 

“‘Ello, Harry, Ron, Hermione. ‘Ow are yeh? Oh, and Draco too.” Hagrid suddenly seemed anxious to get out of his house. “I ‘ave to go feed the Skrewts, come along.” The man led the four students out into his garden which was covered in dozens of boxes that were moving erratically as though some animal was trying to break free from them. 

“Hi, Hagrid. We just wanted to ask you something?” Harry felt Draco’s eyes burning holes into the back of his skull. Hagrid gestured for him to continue. “You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger look like?” 

“Dunno. He wouldn’ take his cloak off.” Harry inwardly groaned, that’s what he was afraid of. “It’s not that unusual, yeh get a lot o’ funny folk in the Hog’s head - that’s one of the pubs down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mighn’ he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up.” 

“What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?” 

“Mighta come up,” said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remember. He went on to tell the four about how he had actually told the mystery man about Fluffy and how to handle him. It was a little ridiculous. Harry could feel Draco rolling his eyes in exasperation behind him. As soon as Hagrid told them that Fluffy only needed to be played music to fall asleep, Draco tugged on Harry’s arm and dragged him back to the castle, muttering all the way about incompetant fools and dragon-obsessed looneys. 

“I blame Dumbledore for all of this. Sure it’s all well and good to place the dog there for protection, but it won’t do much if it has that big of a fatal flaw? Or if the knowledge of that flaw is thrown about willy nilly!” Harry acquiesced. Draco was right, but that wasn’t what they should be worrying about. Snape could be getting the stone, and they needed to stop him. 

“Draco, shut up! We need to stop Snape!” 

“No, we need to tell Dumbledore that his staff are as incompetent as he is!” 

“Draco’s right, Harry. We’re only in our first year, we can’t fight Snape!” Ron finally caught up and grasped at Hermione’s shoulder for balance as he caught his breath. 

“Fine. We’ll go tell Dumbledore.” They tried. It didn’t work. Because the old fool couldn’t stay in a school he was running, he was also simultaneously storing an incredibly precious and potentially dangerous artifact in for one second. At least that was what Draco had said once McGonagall had turned her back on the group. “Welp. It’s up to us now.” Draco groaned. 

“Of course it is.” 


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God! We're one chapter away from this first book being over! This is so exciting, I am genuinely really happy with this whole story. I've got a lot of ideas for future books, I've given a small taste of what we might expect in the future in his chapter.
> 
> Enjoy!

Draco was wholly against this idea. It seemed ridiculous to him that they should just be throwing themselves down a mysterious hole simply for the reason that one of their teachers might want to steal something from it. Nevertheless, he was still going to do it because, realistically, he would probably follow Harry to the ends of the Earth if only to keep him from falling off. And so, Draco found himself on the third floor of Hogwarts, with his three musketeers, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Harry bloody Potter, listening to the soft sounds of a harp playing from behind a closed door that signalled to them that somebody had gotten there before them. Harry expressed his frustration in small hisses to Ron that sounded suspiciously like _‘Greasy bat’_ but Draco interrupted them.

“Oh, do shut up. You just said that whoever is down there probably knew how to get past Fluffy, so why are you surprised? If you want to go through with this stupid plan, I suggest you listen to reason and realise that we can’t play Fluffy any music, so this is a blessing in disguise.” Suddenly, the harp stopped. “Crap. Now what are we going to do?” Harry’s eyes lit up. 

“Draco, do you have the harmonica I got you for Christmas?” Realisation hit Draco like a truck. 

“Oh, you’re right!” While Ron was mouthing the word ‘harm-on-ee-car’, trying to figure it out, Draco started playing a calming melody, the one that he always used in the middle of the night, when the moon was too bright and he needed a lullaby. Soon enough, the scrambles of a dog awoken were replaced by it’s snores and the four crept into the room as Draco continued the tune. He was beginning to run out of breath and released for a moment to inhale again, but this pause caused Fluffy to stir in his sleep and move his paw directly onto the trapdoor. 

“Oh, thanks a lot, Malfoy.” Draco gave Ron evils over the top of his harmonica. _Excuse me for breathing, dumbass._ Thankfully, Hermione thought on her feet and levitated the beast’s paw for a few seconds before depositing it just adjacent to the door. She reached down and yanked it open, exposing a pitch black nothingness. 

“Well. I suppose I’ll go first. Then Harry and Ron, then Draco you can go, okay?” Everyone nodded and Hermione took a deep breath before plunging down. The boys heard a faint _I’m okay!_ before Harry and Ron leaped in after her, leaving Draco on his own with a sleeping, three-headed dog, playing a harmonica. He held onto the melody for as long as he could before allowing himself to fall down the rabbit hole. He landed with a thump, on a strange, squishy substance. Hermione was on the side, avoiding the stuff completely, whereas Harry and Ron screamed as they were being strangled by the stuff completely. “Stay calm, don’t fight it.” Draco did as he was told but the other two boys seemed incapable of following a simple order. “It’s Devil’s Snare” _Oh._ Draco knew about that. 

“Light, Hermione, it doesn’t like light.” The girl cast a beam of blinding light that made the plant coil back and release everyone. 

“Thanks, Draco.” 

“Anytime.” Ron was still giving him evils, but it was a process. Harry rushed up to him and gave him a tight, but short, hug and then released. “Harry, I think that was the least of what we’ll be facing tonight.” The other boy shook himself and put on what Draco now called his ‘Hero’ mask, the face he used to make everyone around him automatically feel safer. He felt that maybe they should unpack his need to calm people down and save the day at some point, but now was not that point. “Let’s go, shall we?” 

The group tiptoed through a passageway before entering a room that was filled with butterflies of some description. Draco furrowed his brows as he tried to figure out what the problem was as Harry tried the door. 

“It’s locked.” 

Hermione gasped as her eyes fixed on a butterfly a little closer to the ground, although it wasn’t a butterfly. As Draco got closer, he could see that it was actually a key with wings, glinting in the limited light. 

“I suppose we have to catch one.” Draco shrugged and walked towards the broomsticks that were leaning towards the wall. “What kind are we looking for?” 

“Large, rusty, probably.” said Hermione as she inspected the lock. Ron and Harry had already collected a broom of their own and were in the air, Draco followed them, keeping an eye out for the key. It was Harry who found it first and returned to the ground gracefully. That boy was a natural flier, and Seeker. Draco knew that Harry would be on the Quidditch team in second year, he didn’t mind. It stung a little at first but he wouldn’t have wanted to be a Seeker anyway. 

Harry fumbled with the key a little before it clicked in the lock and opened the door. Behind it, was a large room filled with a giant chess set. All eyes immediately turned to Ron, who was probably the best player in the room. 

“I think we have to play. Alright, Harry, you go in the place of that bishop, Hermione you be a castle.” 

“Hey, I want to play too!” Ron gave him a look of poison but Harry jumped in. 

“it’s okay, Draco, you can have my place. He’s really good, Ron.” The boy made to move out of his space but Draco immediately felt guilty and awkward. 

“It’s fine, Harry. I’ll just watch. And what are you going to be, Weasley?” Clambering up onto the horses back, the Weasel (as was the recent creative nickname for him in the Slytherin common room) huffed. 

“I’m going to be the knight.” The game progressed slowly but it seemed that Ron had a handle on things. Draco had to hand it to him, that kind of forward thinking was a surprisingly Slytherin trait and it was admirable. Soon enough, Ron had to make the decision to be sacrificed. In spite of himself, Draco was worried. He had seen what the other side did to pieces that were captured, and he didn’t want anyone getting injured or dying on this trip. Ron made the command and was, sure enough, tossed to the ground. Hermione shrieked but stayed on her spot. The injured boy told Harry what he needed to do, and Harry complied. The next move was made. Harry now only needed to move into the spot that would ensure them the win. Once he did, the King tossed the crown off of his head. They had won. 

Harry rejoiced and hugged Draco so hard it lifted him off the ground, but Hermione stayed on the floor where she was nursing an injured Ron. 

“Go on, you two. I’ll take Ron back to the hospital wing.” She looked solemn but gave her parting goodbyes to both of them, wishing them luck, and helped Ron onto a broomstick. They flew out of the room leaving only Harry, Draco and a door. 

Through the door, was a troll. A dead on this time, Thank Merlin. So they crossed over to the opposite door. Through this one was a small room with a Potions table in the centre. But, as soon as they passed over the threshold, a purple fire appeared in the doorway, blocking their exit. On the table, were a series of potions in different shapes and sizes of bottle, and a piece of paper, written on with long, languid script. Draco skimmed over it. 

“A riddle! Amazing, I love riddles!” He dissected it as Harry watched calculatingly. Honestly, the security for the whole place was pretty lax. If a group of first years could crack it, no wonder an adult with a full magical education could. The riddle in and of itself was pretty basic, the answer was clear to him in minutes. He passed a small vial to Harry. 

“This one will get you through that door.” Harry peered into it. 

“There isn’t enough for both of us!” 

“That’s fine. One of us will just take the other one to go back.” The dark haired boy stilled for a moment, a cloud crossing over his features. 

“I dragged you into this, I’ll go on.” Draco didn’t like that idea. Not one bit. But Harry needed to do this, he’d been on about it all year. Maybe this had a lot more baggage than he was letting on, maybe it didn’t. All Draco knew was that Harry was strong enough to withstand anything. 

“Fine.” He reached for the round bottle on the other side of the table and held it up in a mock cheers. “To you, Harry Potter, and everything you represent.” They clicked glasses, but before they could down their drinks, an immense cold washed over Draco, shocking and intense. To others, it was probably frostbite cold, but to Draco, it felt familiar. Comforting, somehow. Like an old friend returning or a beast awakening, sound and constant. Draco shivered, for as soon as it came, it left, leaving him with the strangest feeling that something monumental had just happened. 

“Did you feel that?” Harry was watching Draco, fearfully. 

“Yeah.” They shook themselves after a few moments of pause and downed their drinks. With one last meaningful look, Draco exited through the purple flames, and prayed to whatever God was out there, that Harry would be okay. 


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINAL CHAPTER!! Thank you so much for reading the first book! I have really enjoyed writing this and I'm really excited about the future of it. Thank you for all the love, kudos, comments literally anything it all makes me so happy! I hope you enjoy this final chapter, I will probably be posting the first chapter of CoS soon, maybe even tomorrow if I feel like it, for now please just enjoy a little bit of Dumbledore bashing and some cute feels! Yay!!!

Harry came into consciousness in the Hospital Wing, feeling as though his mouth were filled with cotton. Slowly, memories began to resurface, the Mirror, the man under the turban, the searing pain of his scar, the crumbling man under his fingertips, the hot flush he had experienced just as he was saying goodbye to Draco. It all felt like a long, but detailed, fever dream.

For a few days - weeks? Months? Years? - Harry drifted in and out of sleep, sometimes opening his eyes to see a redheaded boy playing Wizard’s Chess with a bushy haired girl, or a stern looking witch, who Harry vaguely remembered, peering down at him over her glasses, or a boy, who Harry assumed was some kind of guardian angel, working his lower lip with his teeth and watching him curiously, concerned. When he would see that Harry was awake, his face lit up and he tried to say something, but it all sounded like absolute nonsense to Harry. 

Finally, Harry managed to stay awake for more than a few seconds and actually managed to retain a normal conversation. He was propped up on his pillows when he realised that a group of people were actually glaring at him, worriedly. Remus, Sirius, Draco, Ron and Hermione - even Dumbledore! Harry rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was seeing them correctly. 

“What happened?” He mumbled sleepily. Sirius chuckled lowly. 

“You’re in the Hospital Wing.” All of a sudden, Draco rushed towards him in a blur of blonde and hugged him tightly around the neck, he embraced it and hugged back to the best of his ability. 

“Oh, Harry! I thought that you were dead!” Harry petted Draco’s back. 

“I’m not dead. I’m right here.” The other boy finally pulled away and looked down on him with wet eyes. 

“I’d really miss you if you’d died.” 

“I’d miss you too.” Their special moment was interrupted by a polite cough from Dumbledore, who was standing in the corner, on the wrong end of twin glares from Sirius and Remus. 

“Could I please have a moment with you, Harry, in private?” 

“No.” said Pads and Moony, simultaneously. But, realistically, there wasn’t much they could do, Harry wanted to hear what Dumbledore had to say, maybe demand some explanation. 

“No, it’s okay. We can talk.” Everyone cleared out of the room after Draco gave Harry’s hand a parting squeeze, and Harry was left alone with the Headmaster. 

The conversation was just as mysterious as their other one in front of the mirror, the other man even avoided mentioning Draco at all, just like before. He explained ‘the power of love’ and what Nicolas Flamel would do now, thankfully they were destroying the stone, as he thought they definitely should. Harry still had a few questions, though, and wasn’t hopeful that they would be answered without a stupid riddle he needed to crack. 

“I have a few questions.” 

“Fire away.” 

“What was your long-term plan with the stone? You couldn’t keep it in Gringotts, clearly, but you clearly couldn’t keep it here forever. What were you going to do?” Dumbledore paused and stroked his chin. 

“I was going to keep it here. You must understand, Harry, that this place is even safer than Gringotts.” 

“Obviously, it’s still not that safe.” Saving the school (and Wizarding World) from yet another threat had made Harry feel bolder speaking to Dumbledore than he usually would. “Now, my other question: Why did I feel that weird hot flush before I drank the potion to get through the fire? Draco said he felt it too.” The older man seemed perplexed at Harry’s last statement but moved on. 

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Harry internally rolled his eyes. _Awesome, wow, thanks Dumbledore._ He sighed and plopped his head back on the pillow, racking his brain for another question. But, before he could think of one, the old man _ate one of his sweets_ and exited with a swift ‘Goodbye, Harry’ and that was that. What an exhausting man. 

Remus and Sirius soon made their way into the room and asked Harry what they talked about. He relayed the entire conversation and gauged their reactions which varied from thunderous to terrified. Probably of Dumbledore’s lack of security in this school. The Lupin-Blacks reassured him that he would be spending the last three weeks of the Summer holiday with them as they still needed to work out the legalities, which Harry didn’t understand, and they left him to drift back to sleep. 

Harry’s first year at Hogwarts was as eventful as they come, but he didn’t know half of what was in store for him. 


End file.
